OPINION EDITORIAL ON HERITAGE CREATIVE BEATS INTERALIA WIDE ANGLE OTHER VIEW ART SPACE

A WILDERNESS WITHOUT WITNESSES 

What happens to wildlife when nobody is watching?

Beyond the celebrated Hangul lies a hidden natural world in Kashmir that remains poorly documented, rarely discussed and increasingly absent from public consciousness.

Beyond the celebrated Hangul lies a hidden natural world in Kashmir that remains poorly documented, rarely discussed and increasingly absent from public consciousness.

Kashmir’s conservation conversation often begins and ends with the Hangul. The deer is a powerful symbol of the Valley’s natural heritage and its survival rightly demands public attention. Yet beyond this familiar animal lies a largely unrecorded world, bats hunting above orchards after dusk, frogs breeding beside shrinking springs, beetles recycling leaf litter and insects pollinating the plants on which wider food chains depend. 

This wilderness does not announce itself through spectacular landscapes. It exists in the darkness of forests, beneath fallen leaves, along forgotten streams and at the quiet margins of wetlands. Its inhabitants are creatures most people may never see and whose disappearance may never be noticed. 

In Ruhulla’s Resignation, Has New Delhi Killed Two Birds with One Stone?

Bharat Ratna LK Advani Ji at 100!

The Death of Attention in the Digital Generation

How much do we really know about the wildlife that shares the Valley with us. Conservation begins with knowledge. Before a species can be protected, its presence, distribution, population trends and habitat requirements must be understood. Without reliable baselines, change cannot be measured. If breeding grounds, feeding areas and seasonal movements go undocumented, development decisions may unintentionally damage places essential to survival. Conservation then becomes a response to visible damage rather than a way of preventing it. Consider the small mammals of Kashmir’s forests. Shrews, mice, squirrels and bats rarely attract attention, yet some disperse seeds, others consume insects, and many feed owls, foxes and martens. Bats deserve particular attention. 

Many species consume insects, including agricultural pests, making them part of the ecological functioning of forests and farms. The western Himalaya has been reported to support 44 bat species across Himachal Pradesh and Jammu and Kashmir, yet Kashmir-specific knowledge remains uneven. This........

© Kashmir Images