Saturday, September 20, 2014

Hoolock Gibbons; the only apes found in India

Hoolock Gibbon (female with a baby)
North East India is amazing in terms of the diverse flora and fauna it supports. It is therefore not surprising that the only apes found in India, The Hoolock Gibbons, are found in North East India.

The populations of these apes are on a decline.I am sharing some pictures of both the male and female Hoolock Gibbon. These pictures were taken by Some Jha during her Arunachal Pradesh trip earlier this year.

Hoolock Gibbon male
Hoolock Gibbon female


Sunday, September 14, 2014

Butterflies from Arunachal Pradesh, India

Orange Oakleaf
Here is another amazing collection of butterflies from North-Eastern India. These beautiful butterflies are from eastern Arunachal Pradesh near Wakro, in India.

These butterfly pictures were taken by Soma Jha during her trip to Arunachal Pradesh this year.

Isn't the Orange Oakleaf butterfly(the picture on the left) amazing! It looks just like a dried leaf!

Butterflies are often found around mud puddles, especially male butterflies gather around puddles of mud to get nutrition which they don't get from nectar. It seems they get nutrients and salts by sipping the moisture from mud puddles. Males transfer the nutrients during mating thereby ensuring that the eggs survive. Interesting!
Common Maplet butterfly
Mud Puddling 


Red-based Jezebel
White Dragon tail butterfly

If you like butterflies, you may like my earlier post on butterflies :-


Butterflies of India - Nagaland


Common Birds & Butterflies in China



Sunday, September 7, 2014

Every little bit counts; Agamani shows how

The world and therefore the people today are so focused on their own individual needs, and instant gratification, that it is indeed a refreshing change to come across people who are different!

I thought or believed that the majority of people today and especially, the youth of today are only interested in focusing on their own needs. In a consumerist society that we live in today, it is indeed difficult to focus on anything other than accumulating more and more. But thankfully, I am wrong, contrary to what I have been thinking, there are a bunch of people, I guess in every part of the world, who are different, and perhaps that is why there is still so much good happening in the world today.

A couple of days back I found out about  a NGO that was founded around 3 years back. The name of the NGO is Vijaya Agamani Foundation (Agamani) and it is based in Kolkata. It is formed by a group of bright young people who come from professional backgrounds such as Engineering, Medical, teaching,

What do they do?

They formed Agamani to support and help underprivileged people in our society, the focus being mostly on children. All the members have full time jobs, but they make time from their busy schedules to devote to this cause. They have the passion and the drive to contribute in whichever way possible to make the lives of underprivileged people better.

Some of the work that they are do involves distributing Clothes; with Kolkata gearing up for Durga pujas, almost every child will get to wear new outfits during pujas. Is it not unfair to deprive underprivileged children of the joy of wearing new clothes at least during pujas? Agamani founders believe that these children deserve to have at least one new outfit during pujas. No hand me downs please, for once they should wear something new! (This is such a good thought; sensitive and heart warming!)

Some of the other work that they are involved in, includes distributing medicines in the rural areas, helping out under privileged children to continue with further studies by providing then books and organizing various activities to create awareness, and distributing dry foods to the needy.

I like the passion and the dedication of the young members of this organisation. It is not every day that one comes across a bunch of bright youngsters who devote so much time in helping others instead of focusing on their own needs only.

I wish them all the success in life and I am sure this foundation will continue to grow stronger and bring about significant changes over time.

If you are interested in their work or want to know more, their website address is:-"https://www.agamani.org
and their facebook page is:- https://www.facebook.com/vijaya.agamani
You can also reach them @ +91 8450833083.