The Fluffy White Eye

Keyur Rathod
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The Fluffy White Eye

The oriental white eye is a small passerine bird in the white-eye family. It is a resident breeder and also can be seen in subcontinent areas.

It has unique white eye-ring and yellowish plumage on upper parts. I used to visit this place in afternoon as a group of white-eyes gathered near some water points.

The timing of water was fix and at evening the tanks started overrun and that was the time when all birds came together to enjoy the splash.

I shot this white-eye right after the bath and it was quite looked like a feathery ball.

Gujarat: 2 lion cubs feared missing in Amreli

WSON Team
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Gujarat: 2 lion cubs feared missing in Amreli

Lion activists have filed a complaint with the forest department that two lion cubs from Victor beach near Rajula in Gujarat’s Amreli district are missing for the last 15 days. The activists allege that forest officials are unable to find these cubs.

The lion activists claim that there was a group of five lions moving in this area with two cubs of less than three years. Member of Mitiyala Sanctuary Advisory Committee and Lion Nature Club Bhikha Batavala said, “We have observed that two lion cubs are missing for the last 15 days and the lioness is under shock. We have informed forest officials about these missing cubs, but they are unable to find them.”

Lion activists are pursuing the matter with senior forest officials especially after scary videos of harassment of the wild cat surfaced.

34 Leopards die each year in Rajasthan : Report

WSON Team
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34 Leopards die each year in Rajasthan : Report

Jaipur With an alarming average of 34 leopard deaths every year in Rajasthan, according to a report, as many as 238 big cats have died in the desert state from January 2012 to May 21, 2018. Listed at par with tigers under Schedule 1 of the Wildlife Protection Act (WPA), 1972, the population of leopards faces a serious challenge due to various reasons, prominent among those are man-animal conflicts, availability of prey base and road or train accidents.

Quoting the report, out of the total deaths that occurred during the above mentioned period, 84 were found dead — both natural and unnatural — while 52 were killed in road or train accidents and 31 due to infighting.

“24 were killed in seizure and poaching, 19 were killed by villagers, 14 by tiger or other animals whereas electrocution and rescue operations claimed seven deaths each,” as per the data of Wildlife Protection Society of India (WPSI).

Till May 21 this year, 23 leopard deaths were recorded. While 11 were found dead, 12 were killed, the WPSI data reveals.

Talking on the issue, Forest and Environment Minister Gajendra Singh Khimsar noted that the rise in population of leopards could be one of the reason behind increase in the conflict between man and animal.

He claimed that the government is making all efforts to avoid such conflicts where villagers are forced to kill animals in their self-defence.

We have launched one of its kinds ‘Project Leopard’ to increase prey base so that animals do not stray out for food and water. Under the project, boundary wall work will finish in next two months in Jhalana Forest Reserve in Jaipur, Khimsar told PTI.
As per the wildlife census reports of past two years, the leopard count has increased from 434 in 2015 to 508 in 2016.

Having said that, according to many wildlife activists it is the depletion of natural prey base in forest areas that had led to the shifting of wild animals towards killing of livestock.
The forest department has not made appropriate arrangements such as water and prey base.

Animal population is increasing so animals have started moving into habitations and agriculture fields in search of food and water,” said People For Animals (PFA) state president Babu Lal Jaju.

Blue whale sighted in Red Sea for first time: Egypt

WSON Team
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Blue whale sighted in Red Sea for first time: Egypt

A rare blue whale, the largest animal on Earth, has been sighted in the Red Sea’s Gulf of Aqaba for the first time, Egypt’s environment ministry said on Thursday.

It said on its Facebook page that Environment Minister Khaled Fahmy has instructed observation teams to track the whale and try to photograph it.

The blue whale, which can grow up to 30 metres (100 feet) in length, is listed as “endangered” by the International Union for the Conservation of Nature. It was brought “to the brink of extinction” in the 1960s by intensive hunting, according to IUCN.

Hunting has been prohibited by the International Whaling Commission, but the blue whale is threatened by “the declining availability of krill, its primary food source”.

Bengal Safari Park welcomes newborn tiger cubs

WSON Team
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Bengal Safari Park welcomes newborn tiger cubs

A Royal Bengal Tigress gave birth to three healthy cubs at Bengal Safari Park in West Bengal’s Siliguri, an official said on Saturday.

“Shila, the Royal Bengal Tigress, gives birth to three cubs. The newborns are in good condition,” a forest official said. Shila was the only female tiger in the Bengal Safari’s tiger enclosure. Special care was taken by the authorities when the tigress was found pregnant, official said. The birth of the cubs has increased the number of big cats in the Safari to six. The 100 acres stretch is an abode for deer, rhinos, bears and others animals.

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