Natural splendour, real musics, wines, wordpower
(see immediately-preceding post for human context)
Pictured is one of an enormous number of water lilies (not lotus) then blooming, pink, on the edges of Vembanad Lake and its backwaters.
”Pests” to rice-growers in and around Kumarakon, they have in recent years become tourism “gold”.
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Pictured above is yet another example of the most commonly-witnessed symptom/expression of our global “narcissism pandemic”.
It shows perhaps the most inane, virulent – and characteristic – form of “early 21st century” human behaviour.
Why bother to pay attention to any of the world’s wonders when you could, instead, go one worse than perpetually-peering into a mirror?
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Every day on “our” planet “our” sun seemingly rises and sets.
(unless one is within the Arctic or Antarctic “circle” in summer or winter)
On at least many days – in drier regions, most days – humans who care to pay attention can view the sun’s daily emergence and disappearance.
To those who do not care to pay them attention, such “every day” events are the very definition of ennui.
The (generally, much happier) rest of us relish the happy reality that no two sunrises/sunsets are too much alike, even in a single place.
Travelling to different locations further enhances this delicious, effectively-infinite variability.
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You are looking at Sturnia pagodarum – so named for its alleged habit of perching on temple pagodas in south India.
One of the oft-seen, more handsome starlings/mynahs, it is commonly known as the Brahminy starling.
The pictured individual was delivering a full-on vocal performance at 7.46 am on 05 March 2023 in Nagarhole Tiger Reserve, Karnataka.
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South India’s large terrestrial mammals hog the limelight, but its insects, amphibians, birds and reptiles are equally worthy of appreciative human attention.
The non-mammals offer an enormously higher number of individuals and species, with a mind-bogglingly diverse array of shapes and colours.
Butterflies abound.
The pictured individual is a member of this region’s (probably) most oft-sighted butterfly species.
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On our recent travels in south India we saw wild Asian/Asiatic elephants many times.
As you can see, such encounters with Elephas maximus do not only occur inside national parks and other “reserves”!
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The Indian boar, Sus scrofa cristatus, gets its subspecies name from the feature which sets it apart from all other wild boars.
When the bristles of an adult male’s dorsal crest are erect – and most of them are in this post’s image – he has the pig kingdom’s most spectacular mane.
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Spotted deer – aka “axis deer” or “chital” – are India’s emblematic deer; Axis axis is also India’s most widespread, most commonly-encountered deer species.
The local common name’s resemblance to “cheetah” is no coincidence; both names refer to the animal’s spotted coat.
Cheetahs were hunted to extinction in India; if current attempts to reintroduce them prove successful, cheetahs will resume their former place in the chital’s long list of predators.
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With the possible exception of fellow humans, Grey Langurs (aka “Hanuman Langurs” or “Hanuman monkeys”) are the primates you will encounter most often when in or near to any wooded terrain in south India.
Primarily herbivorous, but not exclusively so, Grey Langurs are highly social, very agile – equally so on the ground, and high above it – and are almost always “up to something”.
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Circa 200 species of dragonfly and damselfly have been recorded in and around south India’s wetlands.
Some of them are permanently resident, but one dragonfly species is very probably the insect world’s greatest traveller.
Pantala flavescens – commonly/appropriately known as “the globe skimmer”, or “wandering glider” – undertakes nonstop, ocean-crossing flights to-from India and Africa.
Evidence is mounting that this species’ population (which exists on every continent, bar Antarctica) ought be considered as not merely “widespread”, but as a single, “global” population.
Discover its amazing, still-evolving story here.
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