Western Ghats News

With humans sending probes to Mars and the sun, one might think we’ve already explored the full extent of our own planet. But scientists say we’ve only begun to find…

Watching a majestic tiger, elephant or leopard in the wilderness of Bandipur or Nagarhole National Park, is dream come true for many. Nestled on the foothills of southern India’s Western…

Small hydropower projects fragment forests in India's Western Ghats Aerial view of the Kadmane small hydroporject in the Western Ghats. Photo by: Niren Jain. Rising energy demand and global efforts…

A ground-breaking bat call library is released from one of India’s biodiversity hotspots The Western Ghats is one of the world’s eight richest biodiversity hotspots. A UNESCO World Heritage site,…

Innovation in Tropical Forest Conservation: Q&A with Dr. Claude Garcia Ivindo National Park in Gabon. The loss of rainforest is an emerging issue in the Congo Basin. The forests of…

Scientists have discovered 14 new species of frogs in the mountainous tropical forests of India’s Western Ghats, all of which are described in a recent study published in the Ceylon…

The Western Ghats of southern India, one of the world’s top biodiversity hotspots, is a 1600-kilometer (1000-mile) mountain chain that runs parallel to the western coast of the Indian subcontinent.…

"Elephants are headed our way," said the text. "Please let others know." Ganesh Raghunathan received this message, one of eight SMS messages that day from villagers across the Valparai plateau…

WARNING: This article contains a graphic photo. ------------------ The extinction risk faced by mammals is often in the limelight. But it may be surprising to learn that next only to…

Scientists have discovered two new species of leaf beetles in southern India that display a novel way of using leaf holes and their fecal pellets to build shelters – a…

The Nilgiris Biosphere Reserve in southern India acts as a conduit between the biodiversity-rich Western Ghats, a mountain range parallel to the western coast of India and its eastern counterpart,…

The Western Ghats are a globally recognized repository of biological diversity for our planet. We know very little about most species found here, particularly the ecologically sensitive and spectacularly beautiful…

The misty mountains of the Western Ghats seem to unravel new secrets the more you explore it. Researchers have discovered two new frog genera, possibly restricted to rare and threatened…

A small, boneless creature, that lives underground, with a "hundred" legs, and a rather powerful sting; some of these creatures are drab, but some are so beautiful and brightly colored…

Slender loris. Photo by: Arun Kanagavel. Caught in a beam of torchlight, the eyes of the slender loris reflect back a striking glow. In an effort to better understand these…

Anamalai Hills viewed from Chinnar Wildlife Sanctuary. Photo by: Matthieu Aubry. Policymakers seeking to conserve forests in southern India should focus on those receiving the highest levels of rainfall, according…

Red mangroves of Uttar Kannada. Photo by: Viraj Singh. In the Uttar Kannada district of the Western Ghats, the livelihood of the average individual depends largely on the well being…

View from Varandha Pass in the Western Ghats. A massive expert panel report on the conservation of the Western Ghats has caused a political stir in India. The report, headed…

Scientists have undertaken a new census of Asian elephants (Elephas maximus) in India's Biligiri Rangaswamy Temple Tiger Reserve (BRT) following almost 30 years of sustained poaching. Estimating that the park…

View from Varandha Pass in the Western Ghats. India's Western Ghats, considered one of the richest biodiversity hotspots in the world, has been dubbed a UNESCO World Heritage Site. In…

New frog, Raorchestes manohari was dubbed 'beautiful' by its discoverers. Photo courtesy of D.P. Kinesh. Ten new species of frog have been discovered in India's Western Ghats according to two…

An Asian elephant wanders through tea fields in the Western Ghats. Photo © Kalyan Varma. When one thinks of the world's great rainforests the Amazon, Congo, and the tropical forests…

The Travancore flying squirrel (Petinomys fuscocapillus) occurs in the forests of the Western Ghats and Sri Lanka, a global biodiversity hotspot, and is listed as Near Threatened on the IUCN…

In the cloud forests and grasslands of India's Western Ghats, known as sholas, researchers have for the first time comprehensively studied the inhabiting dung beetle populations. The resulting study in…

Tigress photo captured at Nagarahole National park by camera trap. Copyright: K Ullas Karanth/WCS. An interview with Krithi Karanth, a part of our Interviews with Young Scientists series. Krithi Karanth…

When is a carnivore no longer a carnivore? A new study in mongabay.com's open access journal Tropical Conservation Science has found that the brown palm civet (Paradoxurus jerdoni), a cat-sized…