Developed and edited by Valmik. Thapar, one of our foremost wildlife experts, the book is divided into three sections. The first section, Thoughts from Elsewhere', written by Thapar. takes the reader on a quick tour of the country's natural heritage in the twenty-first century. It provides an overview of mammalian distribution, the characteristics of individual species, the evolution of the country's wildlife habitats, threats to the environment and much else besides. The second section, "The Wildlife Chronicles, collects the finest accounts of India's animals from the first century onwards. It has stories about the great predators-tigers, leopards, snow leopards, lions, golden cats and others; magnificent herbivores like the elephant, rhino, wild ox and the various species of deer and antelope; evocative accounts of some of the most striking animals in the country including monkeys, squirrels and other arboreal creatures; as well as reports of rare sightings of river dolphins, bats, shrews and other lesser-known members of the animal kingdom. Contributors to this section include travellers, hunters, writers, photographers and naturalists such as Pliny the Elder, Ibn Battuta, Babur, Akbar, François Bernier, Isabel Savory, Jim Corbett, George Schaller, Kenneth Anderson, M. Krishnan, E.R.C. Davidar, Peter Jackson and Ruskin Bond. The third section, Wild Fire", contains a selection of some of the finest photographs ever taken of India's mammals.
Conceived and composed over five years, during which the author sifted through several million words and thousands of photographs to find the most memorable writing and pictures available on Indian mammals, Wild Fire brings the splendour and diversity of India's animal kingdom to glorious and vivid life.
He has also created a major non-governmental organization dedicated to conserving wildlife, the Ranthambhore Foundation. Although he has served on hundreds of government panels and committees relating to nature conservation, he is today a fierce critic of government policy and continues to campaign for new ways to save nature in India. He is presently working to set up a think tank, both online and offline, to find solutions to preserve our natural habitats.
However, my first proper experience of birds in the wild took place when I visited the wetlands of Bharatpur-1 was fourteen or so. That experience remains etched on my mind. India is one of the world's richest birding habitats the country boasts nearly 1,400 species-and many of them are found in Bharatpur. The sight of tens and thousands of birds wheeling overhead, with thousands more squawking and chittering in their nests, as numberless others darkened the surfaces of lakes, ponds and other water bodies is something I have never forgotten.
In the years that followed, birds were never far away from my everyday life. I would watch white-backed vultures nesting in the silver oak trees in the garden or baya birds building their elaborate hanging nests. Parakeets, green jewels in the mild winter sun, would arrow through the air, and peafowl would wander amongst the bushes. Every so often I'd spot a grey partridge or the extraordinary grey hornbill raiding the fruit trees.
At night, spotted owlets would split the dark with hair-raising screeches. Delhi was a good place to be at the time for its green cover attracted an enormous number of birds.
During my last years in school and college I didn't have much time for birds but when I found my vocation as a wildlife enthusiast, tiger devotee and environmental conservationist in Ranthambhore in 1976, birds made a reappearance in my life.
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