Wildlife Archives - Project Croak

calotes versicolor garden lizard feeding eastern ghats telangana amrabad tiger reserve arjun kamdar

The hot, dry, wonderful savannahs of India: a photo-essay

An insight into the understudied, little-known hot savannahs of India. These landscapes are home to some incredible forms of life with unique adaptations to the distinct environmental conditions of the region.

male leopard up a tree central india arjun kamdar

Courting leopards chased by wild dogs in central India

Here is a short article that I had penned for Sanctuary Asia (Feb 2016) when I was fresh out of school, working as a naturalist- helping people interpret and understand the deciduous forests of central India and all that they contain. Here is the story of a goosebump-inducing experience where a pair of courting leopards were chased up a tree by a pack of Asiatic wild dogs on a hot summer day.

South Garo Hills wildlife caterpillar arjun kamdar

Some interesting Indian invertebrates

Explore the incredible world of the invertebrates that dwell in your backyard in this article; step-calculating ants, wily caterpillars, stronger-than-steel spiders and so on!

Newly discovered freshwater crabs of the Western Ghats arjun kamdar tejas thackeray

The Wild West: The discovery of 1 new genus, 11 new species and 1 rediscovery of crabs in the Western Ghats 2018!

This study yielded 11 new species, 1 new genus and a rediscovery of freshwater crabs after over 100 years! An insight into the ecology and discovery of these remarkably beautiful species in the heart of the UNESCO biodiversity hotspot, the Western Ghats of India.

Tales from the terai: the field

A typical day on the field in the scorching terai at the peak of summer, here’s a description of some of the many forms of fauna that I would encounter regularly in the forests while part of the tiger-monitoring team.

Mishmi Hills fire Arunachal Pradesh Arjun Kamdar

Purple berries of fire- Mishmi Hills

What should you eat if you are dehydrated in the remote Mishmi Hills of Arunachal Pradesh? I found out the hard way with the help of a local and some purple berries.

katerniaghat wildlife sanctuary nilgai india

Tales from the terai: the field station

While part of the tiger-monitoring team in the terai, we had a lovely field station with a huge expanse of a meadow to the west and surrounded by dense sal and deciduous forests on all the other sides. Here is a brief glimpse into the fauna that was thriving in the area and the tranquility of life in the terai.

dissection hook nosed sea snake gravid maharashtra india

The sea, snakes and our shore

Over several thousands of years, sea snakes have undergone characteristic morphological changes in order to aid their life in water with several species spending their entire life-cycles out at sea, right from their birth through their reproduction to their death. Read more to find out how the long process of evolution has shaped them to live where life first began.

Ghatiana splendida in situ habitat shot on a laterite plateau Chakul Amboli Arjun Kamdar

Newly discovered purple, pink and orange crabs of the Western Ghats 2016

An insight into the newly discovered crabs of Western Ghats; read more to see our journey to discovering these incredibly diverse and distinct species; such as the largely arboreal purple tree crabs and the electric pink and vermillion crabs found in laterite crevasses on a windy plateau!

A leopard in satpura national park India

How humans and leopards live alongside each other in Mumbai

Mumbai has one of the highest densities of leopards in the world (~21/100 sq km) in Mumbai, read more to find out how they coexist in harmony. New research and implemented conservation projects suggest throw light on the elusive behaviour of these big cats in India’s busiest city.