Wildlife conservation

From his courtship of Cleopatra, the prettiest leopard in the forest, to challenging Scarface, the alpha leopard, this magnificent panther's story will leave you mesmerised.

"They will be recognised as freedom fighters who saved our world from ourselves for generations to come."

From snakes, monkeys, mouse-deer, and leopards, he has tended to an army of animals in the past decade.

Siddharth Rao has worked as an ecologist and conservationist for the last 18 years, and is on a mission to protect and revive forgotten savannah ecosystems.

"We have been using our seas and oceans like dump yards, throwing all our chemicals and garbage in it, and polluting it with gigantic amounts of plastic. At this rate, things are not going to end well for us." #Respect #RealLifeHero

Concerned at the surge in roadkills, the Chinnar Wildlife Sanctuary management had tried many interventions to help animals reside peacefully without being fatally affected by human intrusion.

It was for her PhD research on the political ecology of markets for biodiversity conservation that first brought Arshiya Bose to coffee farming regions in the Western Ghats.

“Like most others, I used to kill snakes in my father’s farm, fearing them and assuming that every snake is venomous. All the knowledge I had about snakes was through snake charmers who used to visit our village.”

The complete credit for this near impossible transformation goes to Dr Asokan and his dedicated team comprising nurse Balamani, livestock inspector Senthil Kumar and his assistant Marimuthu, Ganesh, a biologist, and his assistant Kesavan.

She is currently working on a project called Wildseve which has helped over 7000 families file wildlife-compensation claims and receiving their rightful benefits.