The Dance of the Sarus - Essays of a Wandering Naturalist

The Dance of the Sarus - Essays of a Wandering Naturalist

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Author: S Theodore Baskaran
Publisher: Oxford University Press
Year: 2002
Language: English
Pages: 240
ISBN/UPC (if available): 0195662563

Description

Did you know that
- Flamingoes consume one-tenth of their body weight in food everyday?
- the scientific name of the lesser flamingo - Phoenicanais minor - literally means 'crimson water nymph' ?
- Brahminy kites are always the first to disappear from a chemically polluted are?
- Indian taak saved England during the war with Napoleon?

Biscayan's ability to tell a good story transforms the 53 essays in this book into a narrative rich with fascinating information. His prose captures the sights and sounds of the Indian wilderness, and his cameos introduce us to such varied species as the fiercely monogamous sarus and the purple rumped-sunbird, the lion-tailed macaque and the immaculate white tiger.

The Dance of the Sarus is the outcome of Baskaran's journeys and posting to different parts of the country and his unending forays into areas rich in natural history It is a must for the specialist and amateur naturalists, conservationists, and anyone keenly interested in and concerned about India's abundantly rich but ebbing natural heritage.

EXCERPTS FROM REVIEWS:

Few other recent writers have recaptured as well as Bask ran does the experience viewing nature in the grasslands. This is a lucidly written reminder of the little things that gives this country its life and color and wake up call to save a vanishing natural heritage.
- Mahesh Rangarajan, India Today.

Contents

Introduction

THE BIRDS

The Dance of the Sarus
A Haven for Bustards
One Morning in Ranganathittu
An Evening at Lake Nakuru
Sporting Seasonal Plumage
The Survivors
Mauritius: Birds in Trouble
The Flamingoes of Porbandar
Private Life of a Puruple-rumped Sunbird
You Came a Long Way, Baby
The Haflong Phenomenon
Driven to Extinction
The Dipper
Mimic in the Woods
A Creature of the Rain Forest
Birds of Adyar Estuary
An Unusual Congregation
The Pope of Ornithology
Saving the Pelican
The Ibis: Devoted Family Birds
A Threatened Sanctuary
The Pleasures of Bird watching
Salem Ali: An Interview

THE MAMMALS

The Liontailed Macaques of the Anamalais
The Black buck of Bannari
Back From the Oblivion
The Sangai on the Brink
Man-Elephant Encounter
Hoolock: The Ace Acrobat
The Leaf Monkeys of Tripura
The White Tigers of India
Protecting the Wolf
The Slender Loris: A Primate in Darkness

THE HABIBTATS

The Men who Planted Trees
The Rain Forests of Tamil Nadu
A Silent Summer
The Grass Hills
This Delightful Country
Nalsarovar: A Paradigm for Wetland
The Monpas of Himalayas: In Harmony with Nature
Grassland as a Habitat
When the Hills Turn Blue

THE ISSUES

Hunting in British India
To Shoot or Not to Shoot
In a Well of Despair
The Economic Impetus to Conservation: The Kenyan Story
To Catch a Trout
Conserving the Tiger: Interview with George Schaller
The Lions of Gir: Interview with Ravi Chellam
Noah's Ark: How Safe

THE DOMESTIC

Indigenous Breeds of Cattle in India
India's Canine Heritage
The Donkeys of the World

Index