Early summer | Leopard | Kabini

[Bhargava Srivari]

An image of a lovely Leopardess made on a fine morning last week. I’ve been going to Kabini in the month of January for several years on the trot now, and never before did I see the jungle and its water sources so dry. The whole surroundings gave me the impression of March, though it was only still the beginning of January! It appears that the upcoming Summer is only going to make matters worse for the animals; here’s hoping that they all face the harsh months ahead successfully and make it into greener times :)

Canon EOS 7D, Canon EF 300 f/2.8 L IS II USM | f/4, ISO 400, 1/640sec, EC -1/3, evaluative metering | January 2013.

Please kindly bear with the border on the image post as I didn't find a suitable place within the image to stick the copyright info.

[Suraj Sreedhar]

Nice eye contact & image, ................................Thanks for Sharing.

[Mrudul Godbole]

Agree the habitat looks quite dry like in summer. Seems there was very less rainfall in Kabini this year. Good eye contact. Was it crossing the road? Thanks for sharing.

[Saktipada Panigrahi]

Nice composition, leopard on move through its habitat. Colours look natural. Thanks for sharing.SaktiWild

[Sabyasachi Patra]

If greenery means the greens of the lantana, then I don't care. Great to see a leopard.

Borders don't help in critiquing. Thanks for sharing the photo.

Cheers,
Sabyasachi

[Bhargava Srivari]

Thanks for the comments.

Mrudul, she did cross the track. There's a nice little interesting scenario as to why she came out to cross the road that morning; will write about it when I post another image from that morning. :)

Sabyasachi,

Thank you for the response. While one can understand your concerns about Lantana, giving the impression dismissing the factual state of a harsh summer isn't advisable. Also, the tone of your statement indicates a I-don't-care-what-others-say attitude (at least to me; don't mind me mentioning it) won't go down well with too many people. I know you haven't seen Kabini in the last few weeks, because if you did, your response to the image or its description rather would not be this. I am stating this only because it was from you and Indiawilds that i learned a lot of my wildlife basics and want the forum to flourish to greater heights. Hope you will take it in the right spirit :) And for clarification, you wouldn't be able to see any lush green trees or patches of grass in the forest, excepting for a small area around the backwaters. It appears you have made a call that I was talking about green lantana just because there is lantana is this image.

Regards

Bhargava

[Sabyasachi Patra]

Bhargava,

Wow! Even a one line statement causes confusion?

Since major parts of kabini has got lantana, if it dries up then it is good for the ecosystem. A fire will help in cleaning up the dried up lantana. The FD has to create firelines to manage it. Then the native vegetation will have a chance to grow up and reclaim part of the land from the exotics. It will need several cycles of burning for the lantana to go.

The health of a forest should not be judged just by one season. Scientists have now learnt that even studies spanning a decade doesn't give a good idea, as the landscape changes from grasslands to forests to grasslands etc. The role of draught and fire (both natural and manmade) is intrinsic interlinked to the health of the ecosystem. I would love to see the greenery, without the greens of the exotics. I know that i may be ruffling feathers of people who get swayed by the greenery of the exotics or just feel bad about the drying up of waterbodies. However, one has to be impassionate and look at the long term implications.

I am happy that you want IndiaWilds to flourish to greater heights.

Cheers,
Sabyasachi

[Bhargava Srivari]

Sabyasachi,

Good to see you respond. For all practical purposes, there was never a discussion on the health of the forest or the ecosystem, about which I am sure you are right in saying that it takes a long period of time to study and understand. However, it is the state of the animals that is of concern. Isn't one season of extreme drought enough to kill thousands of precious living beings? The locals are already dreading the scenes of herbivores succumbing to dehydration/starvation and predators fleeing away from their territories. Let us pray that nothing of that order will happen and hope for some rains. :)