Showing posts tagged india

A Stunning Collection of Beetles From Around the World

by Laura Poppick

Udo Schmidt, a retired researcher from Germany’s Federal Center for Meat Research in Bavaria, has been collecting beetles since his late 20s. Now, at 70, his beetle drawers have swelled to 30,000 specimens representing more than 6,000 species.

Schmidt is also a talented photographer, and has digitally archived his stunning collection on his website and Flickr.

“Since more than 350,000 species of beetles have been classified, and I have published photos of just 1,600 of them, there is absolutely no danger that I will run out of work,” Schmidt told Wired…

(read and see more: Wired Science)

(photos: T - Eupholus amalulu, Papua New Guinea, ML - Aspidomorpha miliaris, “Spotted tortoise beetle,” India, MR - Stolas mannerheimi, Peru; B1 - Mecynorrhinella oberthuri, Tanzania; B2 - Broxylus pfeifferi, Indonesia)

Gaur in My Garden

The story of a wild gaur aka indian bison (Bos gaurus) who has decided to become a bit more domestic.

(via: PSBT India)

Um So… Male Bats Perform Oral Sex on Females by Charles Q. Choi, Live Science Male bats perform oral sex on females, apparently to make sex last longer, researchers say. These findings, the first discovery of male-to-female oral sex in bats, match prior studies revealing that female bats perform fellatio, or oral sex, on male bats. Scientists analyzed a colony of about 420 Indian flying foxes (Pteropus giganteus) roosting in a single fig tree in southern India, near the village of Nallachampatti. This fruit-eating bat is one of the largest bats in the world. Over the course of more than 13 months, using binoculars and a video camera, researchers witnessed 57 cases of sex — oral and intercourse — usually in the morning… (read more: Discovery News) View high resolution

Um So… Male Bats Perform Oral Sex on Females

by Charles Q. Choi, Live Science

Male bats perform oral sex on females, apparently to make sex last longer, researchers say.

These findings, the first discovery of male-to-female oral sex in bats, match prior studies revealing that female bats perform fellatio, or oral sex, on male bats.

Scientists analyzed a colony of about 420 Indian flying foxes (Pteropus giganteus) roosting in a single fig tree in southern India, near the village of Nallachampatti. This fruit-eating bat is one of the largest bats in the world.

Over the course of more than 13 months, using binoculars and a video camera, researchers witnessed 57 cases of sex — oral and intercourse — usually in the morning…

(read more: Discovery News)

mothernaturenetwork: How leopards and humans peacefully coexist in India Scientists have discovered that a group of both leopards and humans are able to live alongside each other peacefully in an area of western India View high resolution

mothernaturenetwork:

How leopards and humans peacefully coexist in India

Scientists have discovered that a group of both leopards and humans are able to live alongside each other peacefully in an area of western India

(Reblogged from mothernaturenetwork)

The Banded krait (Bungarus fasciatus) is a large, nocturnal, highly venomous snake found throughout much of South and SE Asia in a variety of habitats near water. The larger females may grow up to 2.1 m (6ft 11 in.) in length. They feed mainly on small and medium sized rodents. Kraits are in the family Elapidae, with Coral Snakes, Cobras, and Death Adders. Like those snakes, they have a potent neurotoxic venom…

read more: http://eol.org/pages/1057027/details

(photos: T - © 2013 Vivek Sharma; B - Wan Hong)

The King Cobra (Ophiophagus hannah) is listed as vulnerable (by the IUCN) due to loss of habitat and over exploitation for medicinal purposes, and is the world’s largest venomous snake (females may attain a length of up to 18 ft)… read more: http://eol.org/pages/1055746/overview (image credit: a juvenile photographed by Bosse Jonsson) View high resolution

The King Cobra (Ophiophagus hannah) is listed as vulnerable (by the IUCN) due to loss of habitat and over exploitation for medicinal purposes, and is the world’s largest venomous snake (females may attain a length of up to 18 ft)…

read more: http://eol.org/pages/1055746/overview

(image credit: a juvenile photographed by Bosse Jonsson)

Squirrels, birds…and leopards? Camera trap images from cities and villages in India reveal that leopards, striped hyenas, and jackals regularly pass by dwellings at night, unbeknownst to most. What does this say about these species¹ adaptability? Find out: http://bit.ly/10i6Wp7 (via: Wildlife Conservation Society) Photo by Project Waghoba View high resolution

Squirrels, birds…and leopards?

Camera trap images from cities and villages in India reveal that leopards, striped hyenas, and jackals regularly pass by dwellings at night, unbeknownst to most. What does this say about these
species¹ adaptability?

Find out: http://bit.ly/10i6Wp7

(via: Wildlife Conservation Society)

Photo by Project Waghoba

Cat fight to cat nap: Two teenage tigers need a long lie down after exhausting scrap These young Bengal Tigers went from having a ferocious cat fight to a cat nap after tiring each other out in a heated battle.With a swat of an enormous paw and a fearsome flash of teeth, this pair of young tigers were captured fighting tooth and claw at the Bandhavgarh National Park in India.But despite appearing to be a serious battle, the teenage tigers were actually just flexing their muscles with a bit of playful posturing… (read more and see the photos: Daily Mail UK) View high resolution

Cat fight to cat nap: Two teenage tigers need a long lie down after exhausting scrap

These young Bengal Tigers went from having a ferocious cat fight to a cat nap after tiring each other out in a heated battle.With a swat of an enormous paw and a fearsome flash of teeth, this pair of young tigers were captured fighting tooth and claw at the Bandhavgarh National Park in India.But despite appearing to be a serious battle, the teenage tigers were actually just flexing their muscles with a bit of playful posturing…

(read more and see the photos: Daily Mail UK)

Buthus bengalensis, now called…  Bengal Giant Forest Scorpion (Heterometrus bengalensis) from Die Arachniden : Getreu nach der Natur abgebildet und beschriebe, 1831-1848, von C. L. Koch. (via: Biodiversity Heritage Library) View high resolution

Buthus bengalensis, now called…

 Bengal Giant Forest Scorpion (Heterometrus bengalensis)

from Die Arachniden : Getreu nach der Natur abgebildet und beschriebe, 1831-1848, von C. L. Koch.

(via: Biodiversity Heritage Library)

Lizard Thought To Be Extinct for 135 years, Rediscovered! by Vijay Singh MUMBAI: Indian scientists have rediscovered a rare lizard that British colonel RH Beddome had last spotted in the Eastern Ghats in 1877. “This elusive lizard, Geckoella jeyporensis, commonly named as Jeypore ground gecko, was believed to have become extinct since it was last seen in 1877. But in 2010-11, a PhD student of Centre for Ecological Sciences (CES), Ishan Agarwal, and his team spotted it again in Orissa,” Bombay Natural History Society senior scientist Varad Giri told TOI. Giri studied this rare find. “After properly studying its features and taxonomy, we were thrilled to learn that this is the same gecko which became ‘extinct’ 135 years ago. This rediscovery was recently published in the scientific journal of Hamadryad,” said Giri… (read more: Times of India)  View high resolution

Lizard Thought To Be Extinct for 135 years, Rediscovered!

by Vijay Singh

MUMBAI: Indian scientists have rediscovered a rare lizard that British colonel RH Beddome had last spotted in the Eastern Ghats in 1877.

“This elusive lizard, Geckoella jeyporensis, commonly named as Jeypore ground gecko, was believed to have become extinct since it was last seen in 1877. But in 2010-11, a PhD student of Centre for Ecological Sciences (CES), Ishan Agarwal, and his team spotted it again in Orissa,” Bombay Natural History Society senior scientist Varad Giri told TOI.

Giri studied this rare find. “After properly studying its features and taxonomy, we were thrilled to learn that this is the same gecko which became ‘extinct’ 135 years ago. This rediscovery was recently published in the scientific journal of Hamadryad,” said Giri…

(read more: Times of India) 

astronomy-to-zoology:

Hooded Grasshopper (Teratodes monticollis)

…is a species of grasshopper found throughout India and Sri Lanka. Despite their flashy hoods, hooded grasshoppers are pretty normal insects, as they are usually found in vegetation where they feed on leaves. Their hoods are in-fact camouflage to make the insect look more like a leaf. 

Phylogeny

Animalia-Arthropoda-Insecta-Orthoptera-Acrididae-Teratodes-monticollis

Image Source(s)

(Reblogged from astronomy-to-zoology)
fairy-wren: White-rumped Shama (Copsychus malabaricus) male - South and SE Asia Photo by jeluba View high resolution

fairy-wren: White-rumped Shama (Copsychus malabaricus) male

- South and SE Asia

Photo by jeluba

(Reblogged from fairy-wren)

fairy-wren: Indian Courser (Cursorius coromandelicus), South Asia

(Photos by Vivek Khanzode)

(Reblogged from fairy-wren)
Scientists successfully reintroduce gaur in Indian park by Thomas Handley Gaur (Bos gaurus gaurus) is one of the large wild ungulates of Asian jungles. It is the tallest living ox, and one of the four heaviest land mammals (elephant, rhino and wild buffalo are the other three), weighing up to 940 kg (2,070 lbs) and standing between 1.6 and 1.9 m (5.2 to 6.2 ft) at the shoulder. Gaur were once distributed throughout the forested tracts of India and South Nepal, east to Vietnam and south to Malaya. Today, however, they are confined to just over a hundred existing, and 27 proposed, Protected Areas in India. It is listed in Appendix I of the Conservation on International trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES), and categorized as Vulnerable by the International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources (IUCN). As local populations of guar vanish, conservationists have taken to re-introducing the species, such as in Bandhavgarh Tiger Reserve in 2011. A new paper in mongabay.com’s open access journal Tropical Conservation Science examines the outcome of the reintroduction program. The last small population of gaur (30 to 32 individuals) migrated out of the Bandhavgarh Tiger Reserve in 1995. This population was considered to be the only population north of the Narmada River, in Central India… (read more: MongaBay)        View high resolution

Scientists successfully reintroduce gaur in Indian park

by Thomas Handley

Gaur (Bos gaurus gaurus) is one of the large wild ungulates of Asian jungles. It is the tallest living ox, and one of the four heaviest land mammals (elephant, rhino and wild buffalo are the other three), weighing up to 940 kg (2,070 lbs) and standing between 1.6 and 1.9 m (5.2 to 6.2 ft) at the shoulder.

Gaur were once distributed throughout the forested tracts of India and South Nepal, east to Vietnam and south to Malaya. Today, however, they are confined to just over a hundred existing, and 27 proposed, Protected Areas in India. It is listed in Appendix I of the Conservation on International trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES), and categorized as Vulnerable by the International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources (IUCN).

As local populations of guar vanish, conservationists have taken to re-introducing the species, such as in Bandhavgarh Tiger Reserve in 2011. A new paper in mongabay.com’s open access journal Tropical Conservation Science examines the outcome of the reintroduction program. The last small population of gaur (30 to 32 individuals) migrated out of the Bandhavgarh Tiger Reserve in 1995. This population was considered to be the only population north of the Narmada River, in Central India…

(read more: MongaBay)       

The Coffee Locust (Aularches miliaris), also called Spotted Locust, Spotted Grasshopper, feeds on Coconut, arecanut, jack, plantain, tea, cocoa, rubber and many poisonous plants. When disturbed, it  produces a white foul smelling deterrent fluid. - family Pyrgomorphidae, photographed in Western Ghats, India (photo/text: Vipin Baliga) View high resolution

The Coffee Locust (Aularches miliaris), also called Spotted Locust, Spotted Grasshopper, feeds on Coconut, arecanut, jack, plantain, tea, cocoa, rubber and many poisonous plants. When disturbed, it  produces a white foul smelling deterrent fluid.

- family Pyrgomorphidae, photographed in Western Ghats, India

(photo/text: Vipin Baliga)