New snake discovery in Sri Lanka is latest twist in slow-burning mystery
COLOMBO — It’s a taxonomic mystery that’s been simmering for nearly 150 years, and in the process dealt out a parade of mistaken identities, dead bodies, and a suspect that…
Articles by dilrukshi
Dilrukshi Handunnetti is a Colombo based journalist and lawyer. Trained as an investigative journalist, her reporting covers a range of topics. Dilrukshi has won local and international awards for excellence in journalism and collaborates across South Asia.
In Sri Lanka, beguiling bloom of cat’s claw vine conceals potential trouble (commentary)
During the middle of March each year, the ornamental cat’s claw vine (Dolichandra unguis-cati) bursts into bloom in Sri Lanka, and this year is no exception. The entire creeper gets…
From vegetable plots in a Sri Lankan swamp, a forgotten eel emerges
COLOMBO — When a team of researchers decided to scan some vegetable plots in a murky swamp area in western Sri Lanka, they were looking for live specimens of what…
New assessment shows Sri Lanka’s amphibians being pushed to the brink
COLOMBO — Adam’s Peak is Sri Lanka’s fourth-highest mountain and considered a holy site for people of multiple faiths, who flock there in their thousands during the pilgrimage season from…
In reporting on COVID-19, the front line is the screen in front of you (Commentary)
Every day for the past week or so, I have woken up only to find a daily dose of more than 300 messages on my mobile phone. Piled up overnight…
Lack of farmer training worsens Sri Lanka’s growing human-wildlife conflict
HAMBANTOTA, Sri Lanka — Herathhami Dissanayake, 71, a rice farmer from Hambantota in southern Sri Lanka, says he’s despondent about the increase in wild animals raiding the crops in his…
When disinformation is a bigger threat than the coronavirus (commentary)
A surfeit of disinformation is hampering public health efforts to contain and counter the coronavirus disease before it turns into a fully-fledged global pandemic. Various conspiracy theories are circulating about…
For Sri Lanka’s pangolins, forests are ideal — but rubber farms will do too
COLOMBO — A big part of conserving any wildlife species is to conserve its natural habitat. But when that becomes an increasingly difficult task due to human-driven changes in those…
Leopard lens: Looking for Sri Lanka’s charismatic big cat (commentary)
COLOMBO — In recent years, leopards in Sri Lanka (Panthera pardus kotiya), an endangered subspecies native to the island, have been grabbing local and international headlines for all the wrong…
Isolated by civil war, Sri Lanka’s Jaffna proves to be a herp haven
COLOMBO — When a group of herpetologists ventured into Jaffna in Sri Lanka’s north to conduct their first herpetological field survey of the peninsula, they were largely lured by the…
Sri Lanka’s divine pests: Peafowl problem calls for human action (Commentary)
What is a pest? It implies a value judgment: harmful to whom? A pigeon is not harmful to the pigeon hawk. But let feral populations multiply in cities, where they…
What is needed to keep Sri Lanka’s leopards roaming free? (Commentary)
On Dec. 31, a fully grown male Sri Lankan leopard (Panthera pardus kotiya) was found shot and killed at the famed Uda Walawe National Park. It was also reported that…
As 2019 ends, reptile-rich Sri Lanka delivers three more new gecko species
COLOMBO — A group of Sri Lankan herpetologists closed out 2019 in style: by introducing to science three new gecko species from the biodiverse island that seemingly never ceases to…
2019: The year Sri Lanka’s stunning new species came to light (Commentary)
For the Indian Ocean island of Sri Lanka, it is not a huge surprise to have introduced more than 50 new species just in the past year. For this biodiversity-rich…
Balancing short and long term interests vital for Sri Lanka in 2020 (Commentary)
Sri Lanka enters 2020 at a time of political transition. With a new president in office and a parliamentary election due in the next few months, public and media focus…
Ancient Sri Lankans used ‘flexible’ quartz tools to hunt primates in rainforests
Some 45,000 years ago, hunter-gatherers in the rainforests of Sri Lanka hunted down small tree-dwelling animals like monkeys and giant squirrels using small stone tools called microliths, a new study…
Sri Lanka’s Sinharaja rainforest reserve to be quadrupled in size
COLOMBO — Sri Lanka plans to quadruple the size of the protected area inside its last viable rainforest, in a nod to the ecological significance of the region. The Sinharaja…
The Sri Lankan legume: Extinct, rediscovered, and now at risk again (commentary)
COLOMBO — The recent rediscovery of the endemic plant known as the Sri Lanka legume by three young research scientists in a locality in Sri Lanka’s western district of Gampaha…
As nesting season begins, Sri Lanka’s olive ridley turtles face myriad threats
COLOMBO — The Sri Lankan Navy has rescued 32 sea turtles that were likely being reared for their flesh, highlighting just one of the key threats to turtles migrating through…
Elephant seal native to Antarctica spotted for first time in tropical Sri Lanka
COLOMBO — Uthpala Adaranga, a ranger with Sri Lanka’s Department of Wildlife Conservation (DWC), was initially doubtful about the call he received of a seal spotted near Unawatuna, off the…
Special series
Endangered environmentalists
- On anniversary of nun’s murder Amazon land rights activists at high risk
- Iran upholds heavy sentences for conservationists convicted of spying
- Two deaths trigger alarm at Mexico’s Monarch Butterfly Biosphere Reserve
Indonesias forest guardians
- Reforesting a village in Indonesia, one batch of gourmet beans at a time
- Restoring Sumatra’s Leuser Ecosystem, one small farm at a time
- Indigenous Iban community defends rainforests, but awaits lands rights recognition
Amazon infrastructure
- BR-319 illegal side road threatens Amazon protected area, indigenous land (commentary)
- Barrage of mining requests targets Brazil’s isolated indigenous peoples
- Database offers new details on the dams that hold mining waste
Asian rhinos
- Indonesia-WWF split puts rhino breeding project in Borneo in limbo
- Indonesian officials wield sharia law in defense of Sumatran rhinos
- Love triangle complicates efforts to breed Sumatran rhinos
