Pheasant-tailed jacanas practice a system of polyandry that sees each female maintain a “harem” of males, each tasked with looking after a clutch of eggs.That’s led to unusual parenting roles that see the males incubate the eggs and care for the young, and the females play the leading role in defending against attacks by predators.These behaviors have been documented for ...
Published on Mongabay on 12.07.2022 https://news.mongabay.com/2022/07/protected-areas-not-exempt-as-blast-fishing-blows-up-in-sri-lanka/ Blast fishing is widely practiced in the seas around Sri Lanka, with even marine parks and historical shipwrecks not immune to this illegal practice.Authorities say blast fishers work as part of a network to evade capture and obtain explosives, including by smuggling them in by sea from India.The easy availability of explosives transcends conservation ...
https://www.sundaytimes.lk/220612/news/role-of-oceans-in-human-lives-discussed-485673.html Published on SundayTimes on 12.06.2022 The sandy beaches look like barren wastelands, but as you enter the water in the ocean and start to go deeper, a world rich in biodiversity opens up. This space is home to a wide array of creatures ranging from tiny algae to the blue whale, but how many of us got the chance ...
https://www.sundaytimes.lk/220508/news/endangered-800kg-giant-manta-ray-worth-more-alive-than-dead-481968.html Published on SundayTimes on 08.05.2022 It is a difficult time for everyone, so the fishermen of the boat ‘Sehansa’ that left Mirissa harbour on May 1, prayed for a good catch. The ocean deity Poseidon would have heard their prayers. They hauled in a giant manta ray and sold it for Rs 170,000. To offload the 800 kilogram fish, ...
Published on SundayTimes on 01.05.2022 https://www.sundaytimes.lk/220501/news/opportunist-thieving-native-kaputa-a-menace-in-other-lands-481353.html According to a news report, several Malaysian women had an embarrassing experience when they lost their undergarments that had been left to dry outside. Their initial suspect was a ‘panty thief’, but the stolen items were found in birds’ nests in the area. The ‘panty thief’ was in fact the house crows. Crows have ...
Published on SundayTimes on 01.05.2022 https://www.sundaytimes.lk/220501/news/careless-zoo-claims-another-life-motherless-orangutan-drowns-481418.html The Dehiwala zoo’s baby orangutan, aged about five years, drowned last week in the moat that surrounds its den. It was alone in its den on the night of April 21. Its mother, too, died last December. As a rule, animals that spend the day in larger, open enclosures are caged at night for ...
Published on SundayTimes on https://www.sundaytimes.lk/220424/news/fuel-crisis-a-chance-to-create-tracks-for-pedal-power-480760.html Senior manager of the Nations Trust Bank Wattala branch, Ruwan Kolitha leaves his residence at Udahamulla, Nugegoda every day around 6.30 am,, while his colleagues spend hours in fuel queues Mr. Kolitha rides his bicycle from Udahamulla to the office, about 20 kilometres, which takes him about one hour. “If I use my car, it ...
While the economic hardships, fuel shortages and power cuts add a gloomy undertone, nature however, looks to reconcile troubled minds adding fragrance to gardens in many areas through the blooming of pigeon orchids (Dendrobium crumenatum) this week. Resembling the shape of a pigeon, this white orchid known as ‘parevi mal’ in Sinhala blooms in numbers clustered in an inflorescence ...
Published on SundayTimes on 27.02.2022 https://www.sundaytimes.lk/220227/news/govt-to-expand-vessel-monitoring-as-lankan-fishermen-continue-to-fish-in-foreign-waters-474348.html The multi-day fishing vessel Sampath 7 left the fisheries harbour in Beruwala in May last year, and its skipper Mahalingam Kanapathi steered the boat into the waters of Seychelles. However, since the vessel did not have a valid licence to fish in foreign waters Kanapathi was arrested along with his vessel by Seychelles coast ...
Talks of translocation; WNPS President says close the park temporarily if needed but let the animals remain in their home. Published on the SundayTimes on 13.02.2022 https://www.sundaytimes.lk/220213/news/illegal-feeding-blamed-for-three-elephant-attacks-in-yala-472286.html While tourism returns to normal in Yala, a number of elephant attacks were reported this week from the national park. The first incident was reported on Wednesday morning when a safari jeep carrying ...
https://www.sundaytimes.lk/220123/news/long-legged-gregarious-pink-birds-colour-the-landscape-469705.html Published on SundayTimes on 23.01.2022. Pix by Mevan Piyasena A flamingo colony of about 5,000 has become an attraction in Mannar these days. Mannar’s arid landscape sometimes is an eyesore, but many of its coastal areas and lagoons have come alive with shades of pink and white from a flock of flamingos. During the long weekend last week, last-minute ...
File pic of crowds thronging Sri Pada https://www.sundaytimes.lk/220116/news/if-you-are-climbing-sri-pada-be-kind-to-nature-urge-environmentalists-469211.html published on 16.01.2022 As this long weekend draws large crowds to Adams Peak, environmentalists have renewed their plea to pilgrims not to pollute its pristine environment. “Despite continuous reminders, visitors still discard non-biodegradable items such as plastic bottles, polythene wrappers and lunch sheets,” said Prabash Karunathilake, the range
https://www.sundaytimes.lk/211219/news/humpback-family-revives-mirissa-tourism-hopes-466061.html This article was published on SundayTimes on 19.12.2021 A family of humpback whales are rarely seen in Sri Lankan waters, but a sighting in Mirissa may be a good omen for the whale-watching industry this festive season. Humpback whales (Megaptera novaeangliae) are known as ‘songsters of the ocean’ for the sounds they make. They live as a pod and ...
Leonard’s comet code named as C_2021_A1 (c) Bayfordbury Observatory (University of Hertfordshire) According to the legends, a comet appeared in the sky on Jesus Christ’s birth in Bethlehem. Setting the right tone for this Christmas season, a comet appears on the night sky these days, where you may also barely be able to observe it through the naked eye as ...
https://www.sundaytimes.lk/211205/news/satellite-tracked-gull-reveals-migratory-secrets-464385.html Published on SundayTimes 05.12.2021 This Heuglin’s Gull has become the first migratory bird to Sri Lanka tracked with GPS to have completed a full migration cycle. It is also the first known bird to have flown to the European Arctic from Sri Lanka. A migratory gull’s return to Sri Lanka from northern Russia has been charted in a milestone ...
A new coffee table book on Sri Lanka’s wild cats– Phantoms of the Night, hopes to trigger public attention on these rarely spotted animals. Published on SundayTimes on 05.12.2021 https://www.sundaytimes.lk/211205/plus/lest-we-forget-these-out-of-sight-creatures-463894.html The Jungle cat:Listed as ‘near threatened’ In spite of the callous disregard for fellow animals and all the negligence and selfishness, we have not yet managed to stifle the extraordinary ...
The latest edition of Sri Lanka’s red list of native plants shows that nearly half of the assessed species are threatened with extinction, a higher number than in the previous edition from 2012.There was some good news, however, with three of the five plants assessed as extinct in 2012 being rediscovered under serendipitous circumstances.The number of critically endangered plants considered ...
Published on SundayTimes on 17.10.2021 http://www.sundaytimes.lk/211017/news/blowing-in-the-wind-silky-threads-of-flying-spiders-cause-wonder-458789.html Earlier this month, people in areas such as Hambantota and Ampara reported seeing pale string-like substances floating in the air when they happened to gaze upwards in the morning. It took no time for conspiracy theories to emerge, one being that Stealth aircraft use such string-like mechanisms to evade radar and were overflying Sri ...
Published on SundayTimes on 10.10.2021 http://www.sundaytimes.lk/211010/news/high-above-icy-peaks-a-bird-tagged-in-mannar-makes-a-heroic-flight-457810.html A common bird found in coastal Sri Lanka during the early part of the year has for the first time been tracked on its heroic flight high above the Himalayan mountains after being fitted with an electronic tag by researchers in Mannar. “The tagged brown-headed gull crossed the Himalaya range flying at an altitude ...
This is an article published in Vidusara Science Weekly on 06.10.2021. The article focuses on some of the changes that can be expected to observe in your home gardens. කාලගුණ යේ වෙනසක් නිසා පසු ගිය සති කිහිපයේ ලංකාවේ බොහෝ පළාත් වලට තද වැසි වැටුනේය. වැස්සේ සිතලයට ගුලි වී නිදන්නට ඇත්නම් අපි බොහෝ දෙනා කැමති වුවත්, වැස්ස වසින විට හා ...
