While warning colouration fared better in environments with low predation intensity, camouflage strategy helped when camouflaged prey species were less common and when light levels were low. Climatic seasonality had no effect on predation risk, and predation was not lower for warning-coloured prey at lower latitudes
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The newly discovered Himalayan Long-tailed Myotis bat from Uttarakhand is a small, insectivorous bat weighing 6 grams and less than 5 cm long from snout to vent. The tail is nearly as long as the body. Like all insectivorous bats in India, this species is a fluffball with dark brown hair, and its face is bare and salmon pink
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Unlike trees, bamboos, which have hollow culms and fibrous tissues, seldom get fossilised. That makes the Imphal Valley bamboo fossil remarkable — not only does it retain structural features such as nodes, internodes, and nodal buds, but it also preserves scars of thorns, details that almost never survive fossilisation
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A preliminary study carried out in 2023 found nearly 1,500 dogs across 14 locations in Delhi spread over a total area of 2.8 sq. km. This roughly translates to an average density of 550 free-ranging dogs per sq. km. When extrapolated to the entirety of Delhi (1,500 sq.km), this translates to over 8.25 lakh street dogs
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While the criticism about high tree density per sq. metre in Miyawaki forests is partly valid, the vertical growth due to high density is not inherently unnatural or detrimental, but rather mirrors early-stage dynamics of natural forest regeneration, and may even enhance carbon sequestration and canopy formation in the short term
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Biodiversity of peninsular India — home to unique plants and animals, and a dramatic geological history — has responded differentially to geoclimatic history, with a few groups remaining unperturbed by these events while others exhibiting varying rates of speciation.
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A study found that each species in northeast India responded differently to climate change — some expanded, others shrank, and some speciated. As climate change continues, knowing how species responded before can help conservationists design better strategies. This is important in northeast India, where biodiversity is high but research is limited
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Let’s be clear: not all tree-planting is good. In Rajasthan’s Bikaner district, for instance, climate schemes involving tree planting have led to plummeting groundwater levels, soil acidification, and the loss of native grasses vital to both wildlife and pastoralists
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Russell’s viper venom show variations based on biogeography. So, antivenom efficacy is low for Russell’s viper in North India. Studies carried out in mice have demonstrated that two approved drugs were effective in countering systemic and lethal effects of the venom either individually or in combination from across India.
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Birds do not crash into aircraft on purpose. They are drawn to places we have built airports near garbage dumps, slaughterhouses, or feeding sites; due to poor urban planning, this is a commonplace in countries like India
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A study in Bengaluru city has found how urbanisation affects mosquito ecology and how mosquito species diversity and abundance changes across macro and microhabitats
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According to the study published recently in the journal Nature Ecology and Evolution, butterflies originated in the Americas about 100 million years ago
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Ideally, just one cheetah is present in 100 sq. km. of an unfenced area, whereas the density of Cheetahs in the Kuno national park stands at three per 100 sq. km.
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