To be read in The Hindu, 5/4/21

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Snow Leopard 🐆 = Vulnerable + appendix I of CITES + threats due to poaching and habitat destruction + it inhabits the Himalayas at elevations ranging from 3,000 to 4,500 m across Jammu and Kashmir, Ladakh, Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Sikkim, and Arunachal Pradesh + In Uttarakhand, snow leopards are found in Nanda Devi Biosphere Reserve, Gangotri National Park, Askot Wildlife Sanctuary and other places of altitude between 3000-4500 meters + Snow leopards are found in 12 countries—including China, Bhutan, Nepal, India, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Russia, and Mongolia + Himachal Pradesh’s high-altitude hilly terrain could be harbouring as many as 73 snow leopards as per the first-ever such study on snow leopards, a top predator of the Indian Himalaya, was completed in January by the Himachal Pradesh Wildlife Department and the Mysore-based Nature Conservation Foundation (NCF)

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CARACAL = National Board for Wildlife included caracal in the list of critically endangered species(Such listing is expected to bring central funding to conservation efforts. It is likely to ensure that the animal is studied comprehensively for the first time, including its home range, population, prey, etc) + medium-sized wildcat found in parts of Rajasthan and Gujarat + Its earliest evidence in subcontinent comes from a fossil dating back to Indus Valley civilization + It is also found in Africa, Middle East, Central and South Asia + While it flourishes in parts of Africa, its numbers in Asia are declining + It finds mention in Abul Fazl’s Akbarnama, as a hunting animal in the time of Akbar + Least concern(due to large numbers in Africa)

Whitsun Reef

* it is a reef at the northeast extreme limit of the Union Banks in the Spratly Islands of the South China Sea.

* It is the largest reef of the Union Banks.

To be read in The Hindu 6/4/21

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