Monday, 25 July 2011

MOST BEAUTIFUL WATERFALL IN ASKOTE WILDLIFE SANCTUARY

This is the Kanjoti waterfalls situated in the Askot Wildlife Sanctuary, Pithoragarh, Uttarakhand, INDIA. It is at an altitude of 1500m near the Dhauliganga river cutting through the greater Himalayas. There is a hydro-electric project also run using the head of this waterfall. The waterfall is at its best during the monsoons from July to September.

Sunday, 24 July 2011

TICKS on ROCK LIZARD

Click on the image to enlarge. You can see that there are a lot of large blue coloured ticks hanging on to the body of the lizard, especially near the eardrum.  This photo is from the Askote Wildlife Sanctuary in the Himalayas in the state of Uttarakhand, India. It is a rock Agama, probably Laudackia tuberculata. Kindly properly identify both the lizard and the tick species if anybody could.

Sunday, 17 July 2011

GIANT APHIDS GROUPING AND REGROUPING


BEFORE
AFTER
These bugs (looking like giant aphids) were aggregating and splitting into groups and repeating the process for a long time. Could anybody explain the phenomenon and also identify the species? Some of them had wings too, may be the males.

THE MOST BEAUTIFUL PLACE ON EARTH

Jimba - A rather unexplored subalpine meadow in the Uttarakhand Himalayas
Click on Picture to Enlarge

This is the rather unexplored Jimba meadow in Munsyari Tehsil of Pithoragarh. It is enroute the traditional Kailash route not used nowadays except by the people of Munsyari and Dharchula. It is a two day walk from Sobala near Dharchula or from Bauna near Madkot. The area is rich in Musk deer and Himalayan Black bears in addition to the other diverse flora and fauna.

MATING OF SPOT SWORDTAILS


Mating of Spot Swordtail Butterflies at Senapani in Haldwani Forest Division, Uttarakhand, India
SPOT SWORDTAIL Graphium nomius

Himalayan Biodiveristy and Ecology


Full rainbow from an Himalayan Alpine Meadow
Hai everybody. Kindly follow this blog for updates on Himalayan Biodiversity. This blog will include photos and information on fauna and flora and other components of biodiversity and the supporting ecology and environment.