BackPhoto essay | Our wild world
A new coffee-table book by an ace wildlife photographer and a veteran ornithologist showcases India's biodiversity. An excerpt from the Introduction
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It would not be an exaggeration to say that India has all the major habitat types of the world—she is a microcosm of the world. From the freezing cold desert of the Himalaya where the temperature falls to minus 50°C in Siachen, to the blistering hot desert of Rajasthan where it is not unusual to face 50°C in the shade in summer, from the 11,000mm annual precipitation of the Cherrapunjee rain forest to the dry Sewan grasslands of Rajasthan which thrive in less than 200mm annual rainfall, from the teeming human-dominated landscape of the Gangetic Plains with its 3,000 years old recorded cultural history to the vast forests of Arunachal Pradesh where some deep inaccessible valleys have not been visited by humans, India has it all....
Despite very high human density, India is home to a vast array of wildlife and many endemic species, which are found nowhere else in the world....
A large range of species inhabit the country’s various habitats, from its crowded and colourful coral reefs to its icy alpine grasslands. We have very little information on the biology of the vast majority of these organisms. There are many species that have not even been named by science. Their value to India’s human population, as sources of useful genes, as food or medicine, or as essential parts of ecological systems, has hardly been studied....
The book is not merely an assemblage of pretty pictures but a sincere effort to visually represent our astonishing biodiversity, so a lay reader will realize what we will lose if we do not protect these natural treasures of our country. We are fully aware that one book is not enough to describe the biodiversity of India. The images were selected with great care to highlight the major fauna and flora of each region.
A tigress carries her cub to safety in Ranthambore National Park, Rajasthan.
The book was launched in Mumbai on 30 June, and will be released on 8 July in Delhi and on 9 July in Bengaluru.
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