South Asia News

PANADURA, Sri Lanka — Volunteers in Sri Lanka defied the ongoing COVID-19 second wave to join a mammoth overnight rescue effort to push more than 100 stranded pilot whales back…

COLOMBO — It’s no “Eye of the tiger,” but Frank Sinatra’s “My way” seems to be doing a solid job helping an overweight and distressed Asian elephant (Elephas maximus) in…

COLOMBO — Conservation experts in Sri Lanka have been left puzzled by a recent spate of marine turtle fatalities, where the animals’ bodies have washed ashore without any indications of…

COLOMBO — Gayan Chamila, a resident of a village near Horana in western Sri Lanka, recalled rushing to his backyard in response to hearing an animal cry. There, he found…

Colombo — Authorities in Sri Lanka are seeking millions of dollars in damages after a weeklong firefighting operation to put out a blaze on board an oil tanker in its…

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…

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,…

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,…

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…

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…

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…

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…

The goal set 10 years ago to double the number of wild tigers by 2022 remains one of the most ambitious conservation goals ever for a single species. Currently home…

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…

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…

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…

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…

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…

Habitat loss and climate change are often blamed for the decreasing numbers of migratory shorebirds in a major flyway in the Asia-Pacific region in recent years. But it might be…

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…

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…

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.”…

Camera traps bring you closer to the secretive natural world and are an important conservation tool to study wildlife. This week we’re meeting an endangered Asian wild dog that is…

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…

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…

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…

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…

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,…

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…

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…