March 17, 2021
Amid the densely packed bustling urban settlements of Delhi and Gurugram, one would expect a jaunt far from the city to catch a glimpse of wildlife. But a new survey of the remnant Aravalli forests of Gurugram, Faridabad, and Delhi conducted in 2019 revealed that they harbour an astonishingly rich diversity of wildlife with relatively high densities of mammals in non-protected areas.
Forming a critical wildlife corridor, these contiguous forests, including Mangar Bani, a sacred grove near the Gurugram-Faridabad highway, need immediate protection to ensure wildlife can thrive in this region. One of the most degraded forests of India, Haryana’s Aravallis has suffered rapid deforestation. Frequent instances of human-leopard conflict have occurred in the region and need proper management, notes the WWF-funded report.
The rich biodiversity in Delhi and Haryana s Aravallis is in desperate need of protection scroll.in - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from scroll.in Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
In the Himalayas, land-use change is driving the loss of forest birds
A new study suggests that forest species are largely not able to survive in cultivation areas. Rufous sibia, a forest specialist species, is under threat due to oak forest degradation. | Jagdish Negi / Mongabay
Land-use changes in the western Himalayan forests, a global biodiversity hotspot with huge numbers of endemic species, have resulted in a massive decline in forest birds in the region, new research shows.
Scientists from the Centre for Ecology, Development and Research, Dehra Dun and Centre for Cellular and Molecular Biology, Hyderabad, studied the effects of land-use change on forest bird species and “guilds” (any group of species that exploit the same resources, or that exploit different resources in related ways) in areas in the western Himalayas.
Sylvan suburbia: Why a forest corridor between Delhi and Haryana needs legal protection downtoearth.org.in - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from downtoearth.org.in Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.