Dugongs are endangered species that are protected under Schedule 1 of the Wildlife Protection Act, 1972. The Wildlife Institute of India (WII), in a study, reported that only 200-250 dugongs are left in the wild of which 150 are found in the Palk Bay and Gulf of Mannar off Tamil Nadu.
The WII said that the area was being used as a breeding ground and therefore identified as critical habitat.
National Science Day – Monday, February 28th, 2022
Why do flowers have colours? Do varying hues alter their properties?
Such questions prompted Nobel Prize-winning physicist C.V. Raman to focus his efforts on studying floral colours and their roles in attracting pollinators and shielding flowers from predators during his final years.
As the nation celebrated yet another National Science Day on Monday to commemorate the discovery of Raman effect, an eponymous laboratory in Kerala has been making strides in creating a comprehensive spectral library of flora in the country.
The research by Athira K., an assistant professor at the C.V. Raman Laboratory of Ecological Informatics in the Digital University Kerala, is spurred by a broad understanding of the importance of the colour of angiosperms (or flowering plants) in attracting pollinators. With the characteristic found to be extremely crucial in stabilising the declining population of wild pollinators, the study held immense relevance for policy makers in promoting crops.
The Tamil Nadu Cashew Processors and Exporters Association (TNCPEA) has applied for a Geographical Indication (GI) tag for Panruti cashews. The MSME Intellectual Property Facilitation Centre of National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development’s Madurai Agri Business Incubation Forum acted as the facilitator for filing the tag.
According to the secretary of TNCPEA, M. Ramakrishnan, “We have been pushing for the GI tag for Panruti cashews and the Tamil Nadu government was also keen to get the same for traditional unique produces from the district including Panruti jackfruit and cashews.”
A lizard new to science is wearing the Indian Army’s tag.
A team of herpetologists have recorded a new species of bent-toed gecko from a wooded part of the Umroi Military Station in Meghalaya. Its scientific name is Crytodactylus exercitus and English name is Indian Army’s bent-toed gecko. Exercitus in Latin means army.
“The name was given to honour the Army for its services to the country. The military station where the bent-toed gecko was discovered was also a factor behind its name,” Jayaditya Purkayastha of green NGO Help Earth and one of the authors of a study on the gecko told The Hindu on Friday.
The finding of the study was published in the latest issue of the European Journal of Taxonomy. The paper recorded another new bent-toed gecko, the Cyrtodactylus siahaensis named after Mizoram’s Siaha district where it was found. The other authors of the twin study are Sanath Chandra Bohra of Help Earth, Yashpal Singh Rathee of Umroi Military Station, Hmar Tlawmte Lalremsanga, Vabeiryureilai Mathipi, Lal Biakzuala and Lal Muansanga of Mizoram University’s Department of Zoology and Beirathie Litho of a school in the Siaha district.
Most of these lizard specialists and a few others had in a separate study recorded the Cyrtodactylus lungleiensis, a new species of bent-toed gecko named after Mizoram’s Lunglei town.
Popular Tollywood actor Akkineni Nagarjuna and his family on Thursday adopted 1,080 acres of forest land on the outskirts of Hyderabad. Nagarjuna along with his family members and Rajya Sabha member J. Santosh Kumar laid foundation stone for Akkineni Nageswara Rao Urban Forest Park.
The Park will come up in Chengicherla forest area on the outskirts of Hyderabad in memory of Nagarjuna’s father and well-known actor Akkineni Nageswara Rao. Nagarjuna’s gesture came on the birthday of Telangana Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao.
Telangana
Having started in 1997, the concept of annual birding fair adopted in Rajasthan for conservation of birds is proving successful with the 25th fair going to be organised this month-end on the banks of the historic Man Sagar lake in Jaipur. Wildlife enthusiasts and environmental activists in the State have joined hands for giving a lifetime experience to avid bird watchers.
Rajasthan
Researchers from the Wildlife Institute of India (WII), Dehradun and the Mangrove Foundation, an autonomous body under the state government, tagged two female adult Olive Ridley turtles with a satellite device to monitor their path on January 25.
A group of scientists from Zoological Survey of India (ZSI) has discovered a new species of primate, White Cheeked Macaque, from Arunachal Pradesh.
The mammal was first discovered by Chinese scientists from South Eastern Tibet in 2015. Till now, its existence was not confirmed in India. White Cheeked Macaques are distinct from other macaques found in the region having white cheeks, long and thick hair on the neck area and a longer tail. An NGO named Aranyak has made its photographic capture from Anjaw in Arunachal Pradesh in 2015 which was barely 200 km aerial distance from where it was first spotted in China
Arunachal Pradesh
With the first caravan park in the State coming up at Wagamon in the district, the tourism sector in Idukki is expected to get a boost.
The authorities plan to launch caravan tourism under the Keravan Kerala project before the start of the monsoon and it will be implemented by the Tourism department with private partnership. The beautiful locations in the State, including hills, forests, backwaters and rivers can be experienced while travelling in the caravan.
Where did the citrus originate? Botanist Chozaburo Tanaka was an early proponent of the Indian origin of the citrus. An exhaustive study of the genomes of many citrus varieties concluded that the last common ancestor of all the varieties we see today grew about eight million years ago in what is now Northeast India (overlapping Meghalaya, Assam, Arunachal, Nagaland and Manipur) and adjacent regions of Myanmar and Southwest China (Wu, et al, Nature (2018) 554, 311-316) This region is, famously, one of the world’s richest biodiversity hotspots. A biodiversity hotspot is defined as a region that contains at least 1,500 species of native plants, and has lost at least 70% of its vegetation. The Northeast corner has 25% of India’s forests and a large chunk of its biodiversity. Here you will find tribes such as the Khasi and Garo, and nearly 200 spoken languages. This area is also a rich repository of citrus genomes, with 68 varieties of wild and developed citrus found here today.