Wildlife Conservation Trust

The survival of elusive & endangered Ganges river dolphin faces unprecedented challenges from altered river flows by dams, pollution, impacts of fishing activity and illegal hunting. How long can they endure these impacts in a world where their ancient home is no longer as safe as it would have once been? Watch 'Tangled Fates' on 5th October, 2024. https://lnkd.in/dXH9V9cm Project supported by BNP Paribas, Duleep Matthai Nature Conservation Trust, DOLPHIN QUEST and DSP HMK Holdings Pvt. Ltd #gangesriverdolphin #riverdolphin #conservationfilm #dolphinfilm #dolphinproject #riverdolphinindia #wildlifefilms #wctindia #wildlifeconservationtrust #conservationindia Nachiket Kelkar

Giving Indian pangolins rescued from poachers a newer, more promising lease on life! “This is the first time that a three-pronged strategy, using sniffer dogs, camera traps and radio telemetry has been used not just to reunite the confiscated Indian pangolins with the wild, but also study their post rehab life. The post rehab study is particularly helping our teams monitor the home ranges of the released pangolins, which keep varying with seasons,” says wildlife biologist Aditya Joshi, to The New Indian Express in a recently published feature story on the first-of-its-kind pangolin conservation project that WCT and the Madhya Pradesh Forest Department are collaboratively working on. Under this unique project, which is supported by BNP Paribas India, WCT’s field biologists, veterinarians and the state Forest Department staff are giving Indian pangolins rescued from poachers, a greater chance at survival in the wild upon release. Radio-tagging both wild and rescued individuals is also helping us understand this elusive species and its ecology better. Read the full story in The New Indian Express. https://lnkd.in/dTdgMedT Image: Radio-tagged Indian pangolin released in the wild. ©WCT/MPFD #pangolin #pangolinconservation #pangolinindia #ConservationProject #Conservation #conservationindia #wildlife #wildlifeconservationtrust #wctindia

Trees absorb Carbon Dioxide (CO2), thus acting as Carbon Sinks, and this process forms the bed rock of Earth’s climate control system, and cools the planet. Anyone who knows anything about climate change, and the fight to safeguard earth against its catastrophic fall outs, knows that all existent as well as future scientific interventions in the fight against climate change are dependent on this critical biochemical cycle. However, scientists have been horrified to find out that last year, trees and land barely absorbed any CO2 across the earth! The study titled “Low latency carbon budget analysis reveals a large decline of the land carbon sink in 2023” mentioned that in 2023, the CO2 growth rate was 3.37 ± 0.11 parts per million (PPM) at Hawaiian peak Mauna Loa, 86 per cent above the previous year, and hitting a record high since observations began in 1958. It also noted that the global CO2 emissions only increased by 0.6 ± 0.5 per cent last year. While scientists are unsure what has caused this sudden collapse of carbon sinks (the great wild fires in the northern hemisphere in 2023 might be a contributing factor) or whether this is an aberration, there is widespread concern that we’re seeing cracks in the resilience of the Earth’s systems. Knowledge Credit/Reference: https://lnkd.in/dmfafUQ6 #carbon #carbonsink #climatechange #carbondioxide #climatecontrolsystem #earth #trees #nature #scienceupdates #wildlifeconservationtrust #wctindia

Three more Indian pangolins rescued from poachers and radio-tagged in the last three months, in Madhya Pradesh! Live Indian pangolins are frequently seized in the Central Indian Landscape. These pangolins are often passed from one handler to another by traffickers, transported over great distances, and their original capture points remain unknown. Consequently, these complications make the task of successful rehabilitation of these pangolins a major conservation challenge. Radio-tagging the pangolins allows for monitoring them through radiotelemetry post release, thus increasing their survival rate in the wild. WCT, along with the Madhya Pradesh Forest Department, is working to increase the rate of successful rehabilitation of seized pangolins thereby, augmenting their population in the wild, while also collecting data of this elusive species whose behaviour and ecology we know very little about. The better we get to know these endangered mammals, the stronger conservation strategies we can design. This project is supported by BNP Paribas India To know more, visit https://lnkd.in/f9ue29J . https://lnkd.in/dBiQKw9z #Pangolin #India #ConservationEfforts #ConservationWork #WildlifeConservationTrust #wctindia

A critical, yet largely ignored threat to wildlife populations is the spread of infectious diseases from domestic animals. Wildlife populations are potentially at risk of extinction in areas where there are high chances of disease spillover. “In and around forests, communities with an agrarian lifestyle raise livestock, creating competition with wild herbivores for shared resources such as land, grazing areas, and water. Diseases pose a dual threat to both livestock and wild herbivores, with unchecked outbreaks leading to devastating epidemics.” “Pathogens, including bacteria, viruses, fungi, and parasites, persist in the environment and within both domestic and wild animals. Areas where there is increased interaction between livestock and wild animals are hotspots for Foot-and-Mouth disease, rabies, bovine tuberculosis, canine distemper, and Lumpy Skin Disease. The consequences are severe, causing morbidity and mortality in wildlife, endangering some species, and threatening others in the vicinity. In domestic animals, diseases result in reduced milk production, debility, infertility, and death, affecting local communities and even hindering exports of agricultural products. This poses multifarious threats to the environment, livelihoods, and the economy,” explains Dr. Himanshu Joshi who leads WCT’s Wildlife-Livestock Disease Interface Management programme. WCT is working closely with Madhya Pradesh Forest Department, Animal Husbandry Department, and various other state government agencies to monitor and contain disease spread in wild herbivores in and around Protected Areas, and improve livestock health through regular vaccination and health camps. WCT further aims to imbibe systematic disease surveillance within Forest Department’s conservation framework, and promote research on ecology of diseases at the wildlife-livestock interface. This project is supported by DSP Group. Poster design: Purva Variyar https://lnkd.in/dNQFuWjk

“We step inside the Siwalik Fossil Park museum, where a large room with rows of precious vertebrate fossils are meticulously laid out in their protective glass chambers beckoning me. At first glance, the fossils don’t make much sense to me quite that easily. In that moment I wished I had been trained in palaeontological sciences. Your eyes have to adjust, and you have to soak in the information on the labels to comprehend what you’re looking at. But once the realisation dawns on you, suddenly the fossils are drenched in beauty, meaning, and significance!” “That’s the thing about fossils. They stoke your imagination unlike anything else. A fossil is simply a rock until the cloud of ignorance is lifted and details become clearer, and then suddenly the amorphous rock is a fascinating remnant of an extinct prehistoric creature. In that fleeting moment you feel a grand connection to the Earth’s rich past, and all the creatures that came before you.” Read ‘The Siwaliks: Fossil Heaven on Earth’ by Purva Variyar on WCT Blog. https://lnkd.in/dZ-Hh7SS #Fossil #wildlife #siwalik #prehistoric #palaeontology #earth #wildlife #history #wildlifeconservation #wildlifeconservationtrust #wctindia

Very few people have seen pangolins in the wild. Many haven’t even heard of them. If they have, it is in the context of the illegal wildlife trade. Pangolins are among the most heavily trafficked mammals in the world. Ironically, it is their armour of scales, a highly successful evolutionary adaptation meant to protect them from predators and other natural elements in the wild, that has proven to be a bane in a world where modern humans are the super predators. “Despite protective measures, pangolins in India are widely exploited and traded both domestically and internationally. Those that are rescued and confiscated from poachers and traders are often kept in poor conditions and starved for a long period of time due to extremely limited or faulty understanding of their ecology. This makes the task of successful rehabilitation of these pangolins a major conservation challenge,” says Aditya Joshi, Head, Conservation Research, WCT. In collaboration with the Madhya Pradesh Forest Department (MPFD), WCT embarked on a unique conservation project in 2019. The objective of our project is to understand the ecology of the Indian pangolin and develop an effective rehabilitation plan for rescued individuals. This project is supported by BNP Paribas India and Rohini Nilekani Philanthropies Foundation Poster design by Purva Variyar Read more here - https://lnkd.in/dKea_2_X #Pangolin #IndianPangolin #PangolinProject #Wildlife #Conservation #WildlifeConservationTrust #wctindia

Join us for an insightful discussion with writer Raza Kazmi, ecologist Nachiket Kelkar, and filmmaker Soumen Bakshi as they delve into the making of ‘Tangled Fates,’ a film on the Ganges River dolphin. This eye-opening conversation highlights the challenges of bycatch that threaten the survival of this endangered species, the role of local communities, and the delicate balance of biodiversity in India’s sacred river. Don’t miss out on their expert perspectives on conservation, filmmaking, and the future of ganges river dolphin! Link: https://lnkd.in/dkZ5uDJ8 #NationalGangesRiverDolphinDay #GangesDolphin #Conservation #TangledFates #Bycatch #WildlifeFilm #EnvironmentalDocumentary #India

#NationalGangesRiverDolphinDay Witness the captivating story of the endangered Ganges River Dolphin like never before in 'Tangled Fates' by Soumen Bakshi. This groundbreaking documentary features the first-ever CGI footage of the elusive Ganges River Dolphin, exploring its habitat, struggles, and the grave threat posed by bycatch from fishing practices. Dive into the heart of the river’s ecosystem and discover the urgent need for conservation efforts to save this endangered species from extinction. Don’t miss this powerful film that brings together wildlife, science, and humanity’s responsibility to protect our planet's threatened creatures. Project supported by BNP Paribas India, Duleep Matthai Nature Conservation Trust, DOLPHIN QUEST and DSP HMK Holdings Pvt. Ltd. Watch Here: https://lnkd.in/dy8c8CDN #TangledFates #GangesRiverDolphin #Conservation #WildlifeDocumentary Nachiket Kelkar

Talking Conservation with Dr. Asad Rahmani is out now! Watch here : https://lnkd.in/gxsRtMuP #BirdEcology #Birds #endangeredbirds #wildlifeconservationtrust #wildlife #wildlifeconservation #wctindia #wildlifeweek #bnhs