The Truth about Tigers

Watch it now on You Tube!

The Truth About Tigers is a first-of-its-kind video guide for all those who want to understand tigers and the problems associated with their conservation. It aims to put the distilled wisdom of top tiger experts in the hands of viewers so that they are empowered to ask the right questions and demand the right actions.

Two years in the making, the film combines stunning footage shot by some of the world’s leading wildlife cinematographers with deep insights from experts such as renowned tiger biologist Dr. Ullas Karanth of the Wildlife Conservation Society, and wildlife crime fighter, Belinda Wright of the Wildlife Protection Society of India. Internationally acclaimed actor, Roshan Seth, provides the narration, and one of Britain’s top documentary composers, David Mitcham has contributed to the music score.

This unique film takes one through the tiger’s life, from birth to death, and illustrates how different human activities impact the conservation of this great predator. More importantly, it provides practical solutions to tackle the crisis, clearly outlining what the government needs to do and how citizens can contribute to saving our national animal. An accompanying website www.truthabouttigers.org not only provides more detailed information and guidance, but also links to the video on You Tube and Vimeo. A request to all those who read this: please pass on the link to everyone you know. Tigers need all the help they can get, and creating awareness is the first step towards change.

Praise for the film

Superb job. The footage is excellent. And the editing is very well done too. I especially appreciated the script which is concise, not sensationalized, and informative. I hope the film gets a wide distribution. Congratulations - George Schaller, Wildlife Biologist

The film really is marvelous and I should think enormously useful. I was truly impressed — not only with the footage but with the spare, careful, clear writing – Geoffrey C. Ward, author of Tiger-Wallahs

it is pitch perfect. The voice, and words, and all the sound, are exactly right. The shots are brilliantly chosen to illustrate and drive the logic and the words. Really, a masterpiece – Ruth Padel, author of Tigers in Red Weather

Book Release

Photo by: M.Shivakumar

Riddle of the Ridley got off to a good start tonight with a well attended launch at the Odyssey book store in Adyar, Chennai. I gave a 20 minute slide show about the ridley saga and then handed over the 'first copy' of the book to Arun from the KFI School, the 'pied piper' of Chennai's 'turtle walkers'. He then spoke about how people could participate in these walks during the turtle nesting season (from December to March), by joining him and his team every Friday and Saturday night at the Neelankarai beach off the East Coast Road. The walk begins at midnight and ends at the hatchery in Besant Nagar beach around 4.00 a.m.

After reburying any eggs that they may collected that night in the hatchery, the walkers go home to get some sleep. Turtle walks have been a feature of Chennai for over 30 years. For a couple of decades now, they have been taking place under the aegis of the Students' Sea Turtle Conservation Network (SSTCN). Over the years many participants in these turtle walks have gone on to take up careers in wildlife biology or conservation.

Wildlife books for children

Tulika Books (www.tulikabooks.com) have just brought out my first two childrens' books. The first, Riddle of the Ridley is the saga of the olive ridley sea turtles that nest on the Indian coast. The olive ridley is the smallest of the seven species of sea turtles that exist today. Every year, an indeterminate number, perhaps exceeding two hundred thousand, migrate from the Indian Ocean south of Sri Lanka to the off-shore waters of Orissa on India's east coast. Here they climb ashore enmasse to lay their eggs on two or three select beaches. This mass nesting phenomenon is referred to as an ‘arribada’, a Spanish word meaning 'the arrival'. Sadly, during the last 15 years, tens of thousands of these gentle reptiles have drowned in the nets of mechanized fishing boats. Riddle of the Ridley chronicles the fascinating life history of these mysterious creatures, delves into the problems that confront them, and offers some solutions for their conservation. The book contains several unique photographs, and includes pictures by Bivash Pandav and Belinda Wright. Modestly priced, the books are available in English and several Indian languages.

The other book, titled Lai Lai the Baby Elephant is for younger children and has one photograph per page with one line of text. This is part of Tulika’s bilingual series and the text is also in Indian languages (English-Hindi; English-Kannada; English-Bengali etc.)