The vanishing trails of Sri Lanka’s sloth bears (Commentary)
Bear! The very word may strike terror in the hearts of some, but unknown to many, this wonderful creature is on the brink of extinction in Sri Lanka, with its…
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.
Sri Lankan conservation law and the framework for ethical science research (Commentary)
When it comes to conducting research on wild animals in Sri Lanka, there are two broad categories. The first is research that’s based on observing an animal in the wild,…
To flourish, Sri Lanka’s whale-watching industry must operate responsibly (commentary)
In the early 1990s, whale watching opportunities in Sri Lanka were few and far between as both opportunity and access were rare. Whale watching requires both whales and whale watchers,…
Kaavan, a Sri Lankan elephant living in captivity in a Pakistani zoo to be set free
COLOMBO, Sri Lanka — Kaavan, a 35-year-old male elephant (Elephas maximus maximus), is finally set to end his captivity inside a poorly maintained zoo in Pakistan after a historic court…
New assessment shows 74% of Sri Lanka’s freshwater fish threatened with extinction
COLOMBO — Surveys carried out in the early 1980s in the many reservoirs in Sri Lanka’s dry zone showed abundant populations of the red-fin labeo (Labeo lankae), an endemic species…
Photo Essay: In search of Sri Lanka’s vanishing tuskers
My love and passion for the wild elephants of Sri Lanka run deep within my veins, as deep as my love for photography. Big males known as “tuskers” are a…
Sri Lanka’s hourglass frog is only an hourglass frog 77% of the time
HORTON PLAINS, Sri Lanka — Is an hourglass frog still an hourglass frog if it doesn’t have the distinctive marking on its back that gives it its name? That’s one…
In Sri Lanka, a South American flower usurps a tree sacred to Buddhists and Hindus
COLOMBO — With its blends of soft red, pink and yellow, the fragrant cannonball flower (Couroupita guianensis) is a favorite of Sri Lanka’s Buddhists when making floral offerings during religious…
Problem pachyderms? ‘Geofencing’ helps reduce Sri Lanka’s human-elephant conflict
COLOMBO, Sri Lanka — As the chief veterinary surgeon at the Department of Wildlife Conservation (DWC), Tharaka Prasad is probably the only Sri Lankan to receive messages from an elephant…
Twins highlight world’s largest Asian elephant gathering in Sri Lanka
MINNERIYA NATIONAL PARK, Sri Lanka -- Playful elephant calves in Sri Lanka’s Minneriya National Park are a common sight. But things were different for the two baby elephants noticed when…
Sri Lanka: Rich in biodiversity, and human-wildlife conflict
COLOMBO, Sri Lanka— Human-elephant and human-leopard encounters in Sri Lanka have garnered much attention in recent months and years, and for good reason: More than 14,500 incidents of human-elephant conflict…
Brutus or Caesar? Now visitors can identify individual leopards at Sri Lanka park
COLOMBO — Yala National Park in Sri Lanka, the island’s most visited wilderness area, has introduced a new information center that lets visitors identify the area’s star attraction: Sri Lankan…
Deer droppings help researchers understand sambar antler development
HORTON PLAINS, Sri Lanka — Studying animals in their wild habitat can get quite intrusive. And when that animal is a male sambar deer (Rusa unicolor) with fully grown antlers…
Shanthi, world’s most studied elephant, dies at Washington’s National Zoo
In 1976, a young Asian elephant named Shanthi was flown from Sri Lanka to the U.S. An orphaned calf, she was a gift from the children of the former to…
Civil war didn’t hurt this Sri Lankan mangrove forest, but shrimp farming might
MANNAR, Sri Lanka — The Vidattaltivu coastal belt in Sri Lanka’s north was once home to the marine unit of the Tamil Tiger guerrilla group, known as the “Sea Tigers.”…
In Sri Lanka, the hunt is on for alien fish in native lakes
COLOMBO — Located in the suburbs of Sri Lanka’s biggest city, Colombo, the picturesque Thalangama Lake is plagued by at least two invasive predatory fish species that are contributing to…
An intrusive killer scorpion points the way to six new species in Sri Lanka
COLOMBO — Getting out of their vehicle in the middle of the night, armed with small digging tools, UV lights and headlamps, the members of the research team looked like…
Ancient Sri Lankans built canals. Their legacy today? A new type of forest
POLONNARUWA, Sri Lanka — For centuries, Sri Lanka’s ancient civilization diverted river water to large reservoirs and man-made canals for agriculture. After the collapse of the island’s hydraulic civilization about…
Sri Lanka reopens national parks post-lockdown with strict guidelines
COLOMBO, Sri Lanka -- On June 15, 2020, Sri Lanka’s wildlife and nature lovers were finally able to gain access to several national parks, which had been closed for three…
A Sri Lankan herp mystery solved: The snake species that was two
COLOMBO — For nearly a decade, siblings and scientists Dineth Danushka and Suneth Kanishka have been making field visits to study Dendrelaphis bifrenalis, a snake known as the Boulenger’s bronzeback,…
In Sri Lanka, crop-destroying insects follow the COVID-19 pandemic
KURUNEGALA, Sri Lanka -- With the COVID-19 pandemic contained following a strict two-month lockdown, Sri Lanka relaxed restrictions in late May 2020. But now, several farming communities are facing a…
The world’s a stage for these four new jumping spiders from Sri Lanka
COLOMBO — Sri Lankan researchers have described the first ever species of jumping spiders from the genus Synagelides that are native to the Indian Ocean island, identifying not one but…
A Sri Lankan rescue center races to save wild patients during lockdown
HIYARE, Sri Lanka — Bouts of panic buying quickly cleared supermarket and store shelves with each lifting of Sri Lanka’s COVID-19 curfew to allow residents to stock up on essentials.…
Crediting the lockdown for Sri Lanka’s cleaner air masks the real problem (Commentary)
There has been much media hype about improved air quality in Sri Lanka, and particularly in the island’s commercial capital, Colombo, during the COVID-19 lockdown phase. However, a close examination…
In lockdown’s calm, glossy ibis finds prime nesting conditions in Sri Lanka
BUNDALA, Sri Lanka – The glossy ibis (Plegadis falcinellus) is a fairly rare but regular winter visitor to Sri Lanka, seen at the Bundala National Park in the island’s south…
For Sri Lanka’s dwindling leopards, wire snares are the leading killer
COLOMBO — On May 29, a vanishingly rare black leopard — an actual black panther — died at a government wildlife treatment facility in Sri Lanka. It had been brought…
Think you’ve seen a mermaid? This Sri Lankan scientist sets the record straight
COLOMBO — Legend has it that a group of pygmy hominids known as Nittaewo — meaning “long clawed” in the local language — lived in Sri Lanka up until the…
In Sri Lanka, bushmeat poachers haven’t let up during lockdown
COLOMBO — The killing of a young forest ranger by suspected poachers has underscored that illegal hunting in Sri Lanka, and the bushmeat trade it feeds, hasn’t stopped during the…
For Sri Lankans reporting environmental crimes, there’s now an app for that
Kelanimulla is one of the last remaining wetlands in Sri Lanka’s western district of Colombo, and is a refuge for urban wildlife, including the elusive fishing cat. The wetland absorbs…
Aided by weather, Sri Lanka’s lockdown leads to decline in air, sea pollution
COLOMBO — The COVID-19 pandemic has sent half the global population into some form of lockdown. Factories have closed, streets and highways lie empty, restaurants no longer serve customers. Sri…
Special series
Forest trackers
- Solomon Islands environmental defender faces life sentence for arson charge
- Threatened species caught in crossfire of ongoing land conflict in Myanmar
- Under cover of COVID-19, loggers plunder Cambodian wildlife sanctuary
- Brazilian Amazon protected areas ‘in flames’ as land-grabbers invade
Oceans
- ‘Tamper with nature, and everyone suffers’: Q&A with ecologist Enric Sala
- New paper highlights spread of organized crime from global fisheries
- Study: Chinese ‘dark fleets’ illegally defying sanctions by fishing in North Korean waters
- Game changer? Antarctic ice melt related to tropical weather shifts: Study
Amazon conservation
- Could disruptions in meat supply relieve pressure on the Amazon? (commentary)
- Brazil moves toward transfer of deforestation and fire monitoring to military
- As the Amazon burns, what happens to its biodiversity?
- Game changer: NASA data tool could revolutionize Amazon fire analysis
Endangered environmentalists
- Indonesian fishers opposed to dredging project hit by ‘criminalization’ bid
- Life as an Amazon activist: ‘I don’t want to be the next Dorothy Stang’
- In Philippines’ Palawan, top cop linked to assault on environmental officer
- Deaths, arrests and protests as Philippines re-emerges from lockdown
Indonesias forest guardians
- Why I stand for my tribe’s forest: It gives us food, culture, and life (commentary)
- 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
Conservation effectiveness
- Failure in conservation projects: Everyone experiences it, few record it
- On a wing and a prayer? Evidence for ways to conserve bats (commentary)
- Audio: The sounds of a rare New Zealand bird reintroduced to its native habitat
- Eavesdrop on forest sounds to effectively monitor biodiversity, researchers say
Southeast asian infrastructure
- Paper giant APP’s Sumatran road project cuts through elephant habitat
- Study revealing New Guinea’s plant life ‘first step’ toward protection
- Indonesian case highlights potential for long-term harms of corruption
- Indonesia approves coal road project through forest that hosts tigers, elephants
