A fruit fly has created a buzz with its maiden show in Siruvani, a biodiversity hotspot of the Western Ghats. It turns out to be a new species that has been reported, named, and documented for the first time ever. The fruit fly is now scientifically named as Euphranta siruvani, after the place where it was first collected.
When L Hangthing started collecting fruit and vegetable seeds not indigenous to his village and planting them in his home nursery, people thought he was crazy. Today, he has become a household name.
Legal Initiative for Forest and Environment (LIFE), an organisation working to protect the environment in India through the creative use of law and legal processes, was among the winners.
The Sikkim government has declared ‘Cooper Mahseer’ locally named ‘Katley’ as the state fish, an official of the Fisheries department said.
The official said the state government has declared Neolissochilus hexagonolepis commonly known as Copper Mahseer and locally named as ‘Katley’ as a state fish to highlight the importance of the fish and to give emphasis to its conservation measures.
A 70-year-old resident of Pudupalayam in Avinashi, R Gurusamy has left 45 acres of his land in the village for the spotted deer to graze on for over 20 years.
This has helped the deer population in the locality rise from 400 to over 1,200, according to unofficial estimates.
Faculties at IIT Hyderabad’s Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering Department, Dr B. Venkatesham and Dr Surya, fabricated low thickness and strong acoustic panels mimicking this property using biomimetic design methodology. The team also developed a mathematical model and calculated optimised parameters, and then fabricated the test samples using systematic, controlled parameters. Subsequently, fabrication of a large sample was done.
They have used two different approaches and their respective prototype machines with two different kinds of materials. One prototype is for paper honeycomb based on indexed Honeycomb Before Expansion process, and another prototype machine is for polymer honeycomb structure, based on hot wire technique.
The Manda buffalo found in the Eastern Ghats and the Koraput plateau region of Odisha has got national recognition as a unique breed.
The National Bureau of Animal Genetic Resources (NBAGR) has declared it as the 19th unique breed of buffaloes found in the country.
The last village on the western tip of Khadir island in the Great Rann of Kutch, Dholavira has a population of around 2,500.
The garden, located in Mana village of Chamoli district, has been developed by the research wing of state forest department on a three-acre land given by Mana Van Panchayat.
The garden, inaugurated by Mana sarpanch Pitambar Maulfa, has been developed in three years under the central government’s Compensatory Afforestation Fund Management and Planning Authority (CAMPA) scheme. It displays around 40 species, including important medicinal herbs, found in the high-altitude alpine areas of the Himalayan region.