location: Sri Lanka

location: Sri Lanka

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Saving Asia’s fishing cat means protecting threatened wetland habitat
- Fishing cats are uniquely adapted to life in wetlands, possessing a double-layered coat that serves as a water barrier and insulation, partially webbed feet, ears that plug when submerged, and a curious call reminiscent of a duck.
- Spread across Asia, this small wild cat species faces myriad threats, including habitat loss, hunting and retaliatory killings, road kill, and more. Considered vulnerable across its range, the felid is also elusive and underresearched, with many knowledge gaps about its distribution and ecology.
- Conservationists are working across its range to raise the profile of this wildcat, reduce threats and understand the species. Linking its protection to equally threatened wetlands is vital, they say. Initiatives such as the Fishing Cat Project in India have achieved success in making this cat the face of these habitats.
- Multiple conservation and research projects operate in Asia under the banner of the Fishing Cat Conservation Alliance, a cooperative model that provides funding lifelines and enables international collaboration to protect this small cat.

Newly identified shorebird species takes its name from Hanuman, a mythical Hindu ape god
- The Kentish plover (Charadrius alexandrines) is a widespread shorebird and a constant winter visitor to Sri Lanka and neighboring India, yet a population chooses to remain year-round in Sri Lanka and southern India.
- This population has physical characteristics different from the migratory Kentish plovers, hence it has been identified as a subspecies, known as C. a. seebohmi. As far back in 1887, British ornithologist Henry Seebohm suggested they could possibly be a distinct species.
- A recent study of genetic analysis has established this breeding population of plovers found in Sri Lanka to be different from the migratory Kentish plovers; the new species’ evolution started about 1.19 million years ago after the population separated from its ancestors.
- The new species is named Hanuman plover (Charadrius seebohmi) named after the Hindu mythical ape god Hanuman revered in the Sanskrit epic Ramayana who supposedly built a bridge linking Sri Lanka and India, incidentally where the first specimen of this bird was collected.

As Sri Lanka floods swell with climate change, so does human-crocodile conflict
- Sri Lanka is among the countries most vulnerable to climate change, with long drought spells, receiving intense rain during a shorter period with a marked increase in flood events.
- During flooding, crocodiles inhabiting rivers tend to reach land and move closer to human settlements, increasing the risk of encounters with people.
- The Nilwala River flows through southern Sri Lanka and recent flood events have increased croc encounters with humans in the Matara district and escalated threats to human safety, resulting in disaster management responses.
- During recent flooding events, no serious incidents linked to crocodiles were reported, but wildlife officials had to chase crocs away from riverbanks, highlighting the need for an immediate and durable solution for the human-crocodile conflict around the Nilwala River area.

Photos: Top species discoveries from 2023
- Scientists described a slew of new species this past year, including an electric blue tarantula, two pygmy squid, a silent frog, and some thumb-sized chameleons.
- Experts estimate less than 20% of Earth’s species have been documented by Western science.
- Although a species may be new to science, it may already be well known to local and Indigenous people and have a common name.
- Many new species of plants, fungi, and animals are assessed as Vulnerable or Critically Endangered with extinction as soon as they are found, and many species may go extinct before they are named, experts say.

Iconic tusker’s plight shows challenges in managing Sri Lanka’s wild elephants
- When an iconic Sri Lankan elephant was recently injured in the leg by a trap gun, the incident received wide attention and criticism over the island’s poor handling of wild elephants.
- Agbo is one of Sri Lanka’s largest elephants, and since June, a team of wildlife veterinary surgeons and support staff have been treating the tusker.
- With months among humans, Agbo started showing signs of habituation, losing his fear or mistrust of people and developing a taste for the food provided during treatment.
- From January to late November, Sri Lanka has lost 440 elephants, with gunshot injuries being the main cause for fatalities.

Amid socioeconomic slump, new sugar cane varieties offer hope in Sri Lanka
- After 20 years of research, the Sugarcane Research Institute (SRI) of Sri Lanka has introduced four new varieties with improved sugar recovery percentages, cane yield and disease resistance.
- An interactive mobile app called Uksaviya has been introduced to assist sugar cane farmers in disease identification, cultivation advice and access to the latest knowledge.
- An institutional business framework too has been developed linking researchers and industry to improve collaboration, precision, and commercialization of cutting-edge research.
- With Sri Lanka’s agriculture hit by multiple issues, SRI’s efforts offer some hope.

In a world of climate risks, Sri Lanka is finding ways to adapt
- In a landscape of interconnected and mutually compounding risks, climate change has emerged as a key risk factor for Sri Lanka, specifically for vulnerable sectors and groups.
- Risk management frameworks need to acknowledge and incorporate these emerging risks. While Sri Lanka already has risk management mechanisms and instruments in place, there are opportunities to scale up these mechanisms, close existing gaps and mobilize additional means of implementation.
- Sri Lanka is in the process of strengthening its national environment policy related to climate change, including through global and international processes, which could remove constraints and help enhance risk management in the country.
- Key areas for improving and future-proofing Sri Lanka’s risk management framework include awareness creation, education, and the wider enabling environment; multi-stakeholder collaboration and decision-making processes; leveraging new and innovative risk management instruments; and connecting the national to the international level, such as the U.N. climate change convention negotiations or the Global Shield initiative.

Photos: Sri Lanka’s Kalametiya lagoon draws tourists to see native and migrant birds
- Nature plays a significant role in Sri Lanka’s tourism economy, and it goes well beyond popular parks and wildlife tourism focused on keystone species such as elephants and leopards it’s known for to include birdwatching.
- Birdwatching and photography are drivers of nature-based tourism, and in Sri Lanka’s deep south, the Kalametiya and Lunama lagoons, famous as a bird-watching location, provide visitors the opportunity to see more than 160 bird species, including winter migrants.
- Despite the tourism industry nosediving due to the twin effects of COVID-19 and the collapse of the island’s economy in 2021-22, nature-based tourism continues to draw visitors, indicating Sri Lanka’s popularity not only as a tourist destination but also as a niche wildlife and nature-based tourism location.
- The Wildlife Department’s statistics show that 50% of foreign tourists to Sri Lanka visit at least one national park during their stay, reflecting the level of interest in the island’s biodiversity and nature reserves.

New research shines a light on Sri Lanka fireflies
- Until recently, there had been a significant absence in research on Sri Lanka’s fireflies; previous work was by British scientists a couple hundred years ago, but now a new surge in research has led to new findings in the pipeline for publication.
- Recent research has led to the rediscovery of Luciola nicolleri, a firefly not seen since its description 100 years ago, and Curtos costipennis, a new discovery in Sri Lanka.
- Glowworms are the larval stage of fireflies, and folklore has it that once stung by them, treatment would require mud from the depths of the ocean and stars from the sky, indicating a difficult cure — shot down by experts as myth, confirming fireflies do not harm human life.
- A beautiful and common sight just a decade ago, fireflies are fast disappearing from urban landscapes due to loss of habitat, increasing temperatures and pollution levels, affecting their reproduction signals in the form of bioluminescent lights.

In Sri Lanka, humans mistakenly attempt to ‘rescue’ leopard cubs
- Leopard mothers often hide their cubs when they are going out hunting or in the process of relocation, and in Sri Lanka’s Central Highlands, workers on tea estates often pick up these cubs, assuming they are either abandoned or lost.
- When baby leopards are fetched by humans, many people gather to watch what’s unfolding, forcing the leopard mom to retreat rather than approach the cub, making reunion efforts extra difficult for wildlife rangers.
- Other wild cats, specially fishing cats and rusty-spotted cats living close to human settlements are also picked up, sometimes by well-meaning people who assume these cubs, too, are lost or abandoned.
- As leopards partly share the same tea estate as humans, their territories often cross into fragmented forests where they take refuge in the absence of quality wildernesses, roaming closer to humans and increasing encounters which can escalate into conflicts.

Annual Adam’s Peak pilgrimage leaves Sri Lanka biodiversity site littered
- Sri Lanka’s Adam’s Peak Wilderness sanctuary, recording the island’s highest biodiversity, continues to face multiple threats due to a pilgrimage that draws a large crowd.
- During the pilgrimage season, tons of non-biodegradable polythene and plastics are dumped and get washed down or carried by the wind.
- Adding a fresh problem, Buddhist devotees are habitually offering a beautiful and rare endemic flower, locally known as ran dothalu (Loxococcus rupicola), a practice that causes concern among environmentalists who fear the endangered palm will soon reach the brink of extinction.
- The Peak Wilderness sanctuary is facing other serious issues such as forest dieback, a direct result of the forest getting drier, as climate change adversely affects the island’s top amphibian hotspot.

Sri Lanka researchers amp up mushroom studies and find new species
- Recent research on Sri Lanka’s mushrooms has resulted in the discovery of two species previously unknown to science — Termitomyces srilankensis and Candolleomyces ruhunensis — and the discovery of Crepidotus striatus, a mushroom previously thought endemic to China.
- A tropical island in the Indian Ocean, Sri Lanka is known for its rich diversity of fungi and mushrooms, but there was little research until now, making the group one of the least-studied organisms in the country.
- As deforestation, habitat degradation and climate change threaten mushroom species, researchers urge the establishment of a national fungarium to preserve fungi specimens.
- Edible wild mushrooms have been a part of Sri Lankans’ diets for centuries, but present generations have lost traditional knowledge about identifying non-poisonous mushrooms and instead rely on commercially cultivated mushrooms.

Sweltering heat wave hits Sri Lanka; climate change will likely bring more
- As a heat wave sweeps across Asia, Sri Lanka continues to issue heat warnings to the public as the country experiences much higher than normal temperatures coupled with high humidity and threatening health impacts.
- Research has already shown that annually averaged mean minimum temperatures are increasing in most parts of Sri Lanka and climate projections indicate that Sri Lanka should brace for more intense and regular heat waves by 2030.
- Main cities record higher temperatures acting as urban heat islands and experts suggest that town planning should now include strategies to reduce heat as an adaptation for impending future heat stresses.

One elephant a day: Sri Lanka wildlife conflict deepens as death toll rises
- Sri Lanka recorded at least one elephant death a day in the first quarter of 2023, nearly half of them due to human causes, putting the country on track for a record death toll from human-elephant conflict.
- Various approaches adopted since 1959 to tackle the problem have only aggravated the issue or failed to solve it, experts say.
- A national plan formulated in 2020 to mitigate the problem has not been fully implemented due to a lack of funding.
- Wildlife conservationists say that up to 70% of wild elephants could die unless effective measures are urgently adopted.

Activists slam Sri Lanka’s bid to seek X-Press Pearl compensation in Singapore
- The Sri Lankan government will seek compensation in Singapore’s courts for a 2021 ship sinking that became the worst maritime disaster in the country’s history.
- The Singapore-flagged X-Press Pearl caught fire off Colombo in May 2021 and sank several days later, unleashing its cargo of billions of plastic pellets and tons of toxic chemicals; an expert committee has put the environmental damage at $6.4 billion.
- Environmental activists have questioned the decision to file for compensation in Singapore instead of Sri Lanka, saying there’s less likelihood of winning adequate compensation overseas.
- However, the government says previous efforts to claim compensation in an earlier ship disaster through Sri Lankan courts ran up against obstacles.

Proposal to export 100,000 crop-raiding macaques sparks outcry in Sri Lanka
- Following the Sri Lanka Agriculture Ministry’s confirmation of a request from a Chinese company to import 100,000 toque macaques for their zoos, environmentalists have mounted protests over fears that monkeys may be used for medical experiments or as a food delicacy.
- The toque macaque (Macaca sinica) is a primate endemic to Sri Lanka but is also an agricultural pest that often causes considerable damage to crops such as coconuts, vegetables and fruits; the ministry is considering possible solutions, including population control.
- Meanwhile, a recent study indicates the presence of toque macaques on 80% of the tropical island, but experts say the government’s claim of a monkey population of 3 million is an exaggeration.
- On the contrary, some farmers and villagers in monkey-infested areas have responded positively, saying the removal of 100,000 toque macaques from the environment can be the beginning of a solution.

Sri Lanka aims to restore ancient irrigation tanks in climate change plan
- Sri Lanka’s well-recognized village tank cascade systems, ancient irrigation structures that interconnect small tanks for rainwater-reliant cultivation, are a remarkable adaptation and mitigation strategy practiced on the island for dealing with extreme climatic conditions.
- Some of the tank cascade systems are likely to have been built around 500 BCE and continue to function sustainably, though not at full capacity; experts are calling for their restoration with extreme care to ensure optimum functionality.
- Recognized as a globally important agricultural heritage system by the U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), most of these tanks are now neglected and under pressure from the changing climate, land use, population and agricultural intensification, despite their value as a unique climate adaptation plan.
- Sri Lanka’s dry zone has more than 14,000 small ancient village tanks with many still in good shape, supporting 246,000 hectares (608,000 acres) of paddy cultivation, about 39% of the total irrigable area, but poor maintenance has rendered many others dysfunctional.

Newly described leafless orchid in Sri Lanka named after a precious yellow sapphire
- A new leafless ground orchid found in a lowland wet zone forest in Sri Lanka has been named after a precious yellow sapphire as Gastrodia pushparaga, a gemstone commonly extracted from the same district.
- This is the third Gastrodia species found in Sri Lanka, after the 1906 identification of G. zeylanica and G. gunatillekeorum, described in 2020, 114 years later.
- The plant grows in Walankanda, a forest frontier in the island’s intermediate zone with unique characteristics that will likely make these plants susceptible to future climate change impacts earlier than other wet zone rainforest plants.
- Tea plantations being the main prompt for forest fragmentation in the area, an ambitious project aims to create an ecological land corridor through neglected tea estates, linking the forest where the orchid was first found with another fragmented forest patch.

As crop-raiding animals reach an all-time high, food-crisis hit Sri Lanka looks for solutions
- Crop damage by wild animals in Sri Lanka during the first half of 2022 totaled around 144,989 metric tons of 28 types of crops, including paddy and vegetables, and 93 million coconuts resulting in an overall loss of 30,215 million Sri Lankan rupees ($ 87.5 million), according to a new estimate.
- The toque macaque tops the list of crop raiders followed by wild boar, elephant, peafowl, giant squirrel and porcupine with five types of crops most heavily damaged: coconuts, paddy, vegetables, corn and bananas.
- A high-level committee consisting of experts in agriculture, veterinary science, zoology, natural sciences and conservation ecology conclude that population control of some of these animals may have to be seriously considered.
- Experts also recommend a data-driven, science-based approach to solve the problem before it escalates further, as different regions may experience different facets of the problem, requiring diverse solutions.

In Sri Lanka and beyond, seagrass key to livelihoods, marine habitats
- Following a proposal from Sri Lanka, the United Nations declared March 1 as World Seagrass Day, recognizing their importance and creating awareness of this much-overlooked marine habitat.
- A recent four-country study including Sri Lanka examines household dependencies on seagrass and highlights how coastal fishers rely on seagrass habitats for higher fish catch.
- Similar to several other countries, seagrass habitats in Sri Lanka are threatened by an array of issues and activists are calling for government intervention to prevent new aquaculture and mineral mining projects in close proximity to key seagrass habitats.
- Meanwhile, experts are calling for a strategic environmental assessment of Sri Lanka’s coastline, especially focusing on the blue carbon ecosystems, including seagrasses.

In Sri Lanka, activists push for ban on using human contraceptive jabs on animals
- Sri Lankan authorities are considering banning the use of a human contraceptive injection for animals.
- A proposed pilot project to inject a human contraceptive on 50,000 dogs sparked outrage, prompting its immediate suspension.
- The contraceptive injection can lead to the accumulation of pus in a dog’s uterus, eventually causing its death, experts say.

Four-day music festival in Sri Lanka elephant territory set to continue, despite protests

HABARANA, Sri Lanka — As a four-day reggae, rock and hip hop music fiesta got underway Feb. 17, putting many wild animals inhabiting a forest reserve in Habarana in Sri Lanka’s North Central province at risk, authorities have chosen to look the other way. The Deep Jungle Music and Cultural Festival 2023 is organized by […]
Recent seismic activity in Indian Ocean likely led pilot whales to beach on Sri Lanka shores
- Marine experts say the seismic activity in the Indian Ocean in the past few days likely pushed a pod of pilot whales onto Sri Lanka’s shores.
- Authorities and volunteers undertook a strenuous 15-and-a-half-hour operation to send a pod of pilot whales safely back into the sea.
- Rescuers managed to push 11 pilot whales back into the sea while three died on the shores.
- Recorded incidents of whales beaching up on Sri Lankan shores go back as far as 1889.

X-Press Pearl salvage continues as study shows toxic effects of disaster
- Salvage operations of the sunken MV X-Press Pearl freighter off Sri Lanka’s west coast has made some progress with the rear section of the wreck successfully raised off the seabed.
- Meanwhile, a new study highlights how the marine disaster significantly impacted the coastal environment, water quality and, in turn, the ocean’s biodiversity, fisheries, seafood industry and the livelihoods of the fishing communities.
- The study records biotoxins produced by harmful algae from sample locations closer to the sunken freighter, a possible reason for a spate of turtle deaths and other marine animals following the MV X-Press Pearl disaster.
- As the environmental impacts were being published through the new study, the second interim report on the environmental damage due to maritime disaster was submitted to the Attorney General’s Department, the chief legal adviser to the government of Sri Lanka, which is expected to file a compensation claim in Singapore.

Sri Lanka seeks lasting solution as human-elephant conflict takes record toll
- The death toll, both human and elephant, from Sri Lanka’s long-running human-elephant conflict problem hit a record high in 2022, with 145 people and 433 elephants killed.
- With the trend worsening in recent years, the government has recently set up a committee to implement a 2020 draft national action plan to tackle the problem from various angles.
- Community fences surrounding villages and cultivated plots are considered the most viable solution over the current default of fences enclosing protected areas, which are only administrative boundaries that the elephants don’t recognize.
- But these and other proposed solutions won’t be rolled out widely; Sri Lanka’s current economic crisis means only pilot projects in two of the worst-affected districts will go ahead for now.

Plastic works its way up the food chain to hit fishing cats, study shows
- A recent study published in the journal Environmental Pollution found plastics in the scat of fishing cats dwelling in urban areas near Colombo, Sri Lanka.
- Different sizes of plastics, from micro to macro, were found in some samples, and were believed to have been ingested by the cats via their prey.
- Potential health effects on the vulnerable small cat species are unknown, but based on knowledge of the impacts of plastic on other species there is cause for concern, say conservationists.

Updated red list raises red flags for Sri Lanka’s birds, especially endemics
- Sri Lanka has published its latest assessment of the conservation status of birds, showing a worrying increase in the number of species considered threatened since the last assessment was published in 2012.
- The assessment covers 244 species, both endemic and migratory, and lists 19 as critically endangered, 48 as endangered, and 14 as vulnerable — the three “threatened” categories.
- It highlights as a key threat the loss of habitat due to climate change, which could shrink the suitable range for mountain species by up to 90%.
- The assessors have also called for aligning the national assessments for endemic species — those found only in Sri Lanka — with the global red list administered by the IUCN, with the latter identifying only eight of these species as threatened, while the former lists 20.

Green and gossamer, and not gone: A Sri Lankan dragonfly flits back to life
- Sri Lankan researchers have rediscovered an endemic dragonfly species that was last seen in 1970 and thought to be extinct.
- Macromia flinti was described more than half a century ago based on a single male specimen; in their surveys in Sri Lanka’s central foothills, researchers encountered a live female of the species, and observed other male specimens, also live.
- Their observations suggest the species has a wider range than previously thought, and could lead to an improvement in the dragonfly’s conservation status from the current category of critically endangered.
- But they note there’s still more research to be done, as well as conservation of the unprotected freshwater habitats that M. flinti appears to favor.

Sri Lanka university aims to be the country’s first to go carbon neutral
- The University of Sri Jayewardenepura (USJ) in Sri Lanka has assessed its carbon footprint under ISO standards and has now become the country’s first university to be carbon audited.
- USJ recently assessed its carbon footprint under the ISO 14064-1 standard, a process that proved to be more difficult than calculating the footprint of an industrial establishment such as a factory, which has more easily quantifiable carbon emissions than a university.
- The university intends to reach carbon-neutral status mainly through energy efficiency projects and reforestation of three forest patches managed by the university in order to offset its carbon emissions.

Shipping lane change could be sea change for Sri Lanka’s blue whales
- Conservationists have welcomed an announcement by MSC, the world’s biggest container shipping line, that its ships will detour around a key feeding and nursing ground for blue whales off Sri Lanka’s southern coast.
- Ship strikes are a leading cause of death for the large whales that frequent the waters around Sri Lanka, which also include to a lesser extent sperm whales and Bryde’s whales.
- Marine conservationist Asha de Vos says other shipping lines should follow MSC’s lead, and has also called on the Sri Lankan government to propose making the shipping lane change permanent.
- She also says whale deaths from ship strikes may be up to 10 times higher than recorded, given that current and wind conditions are more likely to wash carcasses out to sea than toward shore, making them less likely to be detected.

Dog shooting highlights Sri Lanka’s need for stricter animal cruelty laws
- Sri Lanka’s outdated laws on animal welfare are 115 years old and were introduced when the country was under the British yoke.
- With violence toward animals reported on more frequently, animal rights groups are calling for tougher laws to combat cases of animal cruelty.
- The current punishment for mistreating an animal is $0.27 and is among the lowest in South Asia.
- A proposed animal welfare law has not been adopted despite being placed on the parliamentary agenda on 44 occasions.

Photos: How Sri Lanka’s forced organic transition crippled its tea industry
- In April 2021, then-president Gotabaya Rajapaksa abruptly banned imports of chemical fertilizers, pesticides and herbicides, in an attempt to preserve Sri Lanka’s fast-depleting foreign currency reserves.
- The government sold it as a shift to organic agriculture that would make Sri Lanka the world’s first toxin-free nation, but in the process disregarded warnings by academics and agronomists about the disastrous economic fallout.
- Several months after the aggressive shift, Sri Lanka’s agricultural output has plummeted by 20%, while farmers, who account for 27% of the country’s workforce, have been driven into acute poverty and desperation.

New cave bat species in Sri Lanka highlights need for more research
- Researchers describe a new bat species found in Sri Lanka and South India and name it Miniopterus phillipsi in honor of British naturalist W.W.A. Phillips.
- Sri Lanka is home to 31 species of bats, but researchers say there could be more given that neighboring India has 132 bat species already described.
- The number of identified species in the genus Miniopterus has doubled in Africa, but in Asia, M. phillipsi is the first new addition to this genus after a lapse of six decades.
- M. phillipsi is a small, insectivorous bat previously identified as Miniopterus fuliginosus; it inhabits caves and its population remains stable, although habitat loss may soon impact these bats.

Sri Lankan study identifies new jellyfish, sparking interest in the species
- A jellyfish study initiated by the Wayamba University of Sri Lanka has shed light on this ignored marine species that’s rarely been studied since 1905 and contributed to increasing the possible number of jellyfish species found in Sri Lanka to about 150.
- Researchers also described a new box jellyfish species named Carybdea wayamba, also the first species of this genus described from this part of the Indian Ocean, and are working on a number of other species that are potentially new.
- Jellyfish fishery has potential in Sri Lanka and the department of fisheries has made various attempts to popularize it before, but conservationists highlight the need for proper population and distribution study before introducing the new form of fishery.
- Even though the species found in Sri Lankan waters are not lethal, the jellyfish is a medically important species as Sri Lanka records several hospitalizations each year due to stings.

Sri Lanka eyes major compensation case over X-Press Pearl sinking
- Sri Lanka has received $2.5 million in the third interim payment for the sinking of the X-Press Pearl cargo ship in June 2021, giving it a total of just $7.85 million for the worst maritime disaster in the country’s history.
- These payments from the Singapore-flagged vessel’s insurer are mainly to reimburse the government for the cost of the emergency response operations and for direct damages and cleanup.
- Environmental lawyers say the government can and should pursue a much larger compensation claim for the environmental damage wrought.
- The X-Press Pearl sank off Sri Lanka’s western coast after catching fire, in the process spilling its cargo of hazardous chemicals and billions of plastic pellets that continue to dot the country’s beaches.

Sri Lankan researchers bring little-studied ‘flowerpot’ snake to light
- Sri Lanka is home to 10 known species of blindsnakes, a family of soil-burrowing snakes so small that they’re often mistaken for earthworms.
- The most widespread of these is the flowerpot blindsnake (Indotyphlops braminus), which is also the most widely distributed invasive snake in the world, having accidentally hitched rides as far as North America, Africa and Australia in flowerpots for the exotic plant trade.
- A 2020 study, and its 2021 follow-up, proposed moving the species from the genus Indotyphlops to the new genus Virgotyphlops because of its reproductive characteristics that are different from those of other Indotyphlops species.
- But a new study by Sri Lankan researchers, building on field surveys carried out since 2007, says such a move isn’t warranted, and that the flowerpot blindsnake i s simply an “exceptional” member of its genus.

Sri Lanka fuel shortage takes massive toll on efforts to save wildlife
- Sri Lanka continues to face the brunt of the worst economic crisis in the country’s history, with depleted foreign reserves resulting in acute fuel shortages nationwide.
- The shortages and limited rations are affecting conservation efforts, including the timely treatment of wild animals, regular patrolling to thwart poaching, and mitigation actions to limit human-elephant conflict.
- Fuel allocations for the wildlife conservation department have been halved, and both wildlife and forest officials say this has made operations extremely difficult.
- The threat of forest fires also looms as the dry season gets underway, which typically calls for more patrols to prevent burning by poachers and forest encroachers.

Drawing the wrong lessons from Sri Lanka’s organic farming experience (commentary)
- Long-standing organic farmers have performed well in the past two years even though conventional farmers in Sri Lanka suffered due to a sudden ban on the import of chemical fertilizers.
- The real lesson to be learned from the Sri Lankan economic crisis is that good governance matters for the health and nutrition of a nation.
- Researchers say that a more diverse set of farming approaches can make Sri Lanka less vulnerable to the next crisis.
- This article is a commentary. The views expressed are those of the authors, not necessarily of Mongabay.

Overlooked and at risk, seagrass is habitat of choice for many small-scale fishers
- Seagrass meadows, rather than coral reefs, are the fishing grounds of choice for many fishing households in four countries in the Indo-Pacific region, a new study shows.
- Fishers in Cambodia, Tanzania, Indonesia and Sri Lanka identified seagrass meadows as being more easily accessible than coral reefs, often without the need for a boat, and less likely to damage equipment such as nets.
- However, seagrasses around the world are disappearing at rates that rival those of coral reefs and tropical rainforests, losing as much as 7% of their area each year.
- The study makes the case for better-informed management of these marine habitats, to ensure their sustainability for the marine life and people who depend on them.

Sri Lankan environmental policy failures helped fuel people power revolution
- Mismanagement of environmental concerns contributed to the unpopularity and eventual resignation, in the face of popular protests, of Gotabaya Rajapaksa, Sri Lanka’s president.
- While Rajapaksa’s main legacy is the worst economic crisis in the country’s history, he also leaves behind a multitude of failed environmental policies, critics say.
- Uncontrolled exploitation of natural resources, creating opportunities for land grabbing through amendments to the law, and dismissing environmental concerns have all impacted the country, with some of these policies expected to have lasting effects.
- With Sri Lanka’s economic hardship deepening and driving the population of 22 million into “survival mode,” environmental activists are warning of even more intensive exploitation of natural resources.

In a former conflict zone in Sri Lanka, a world rich in corals thrives
- The Jaffna Peninsula at the northern tip of Sri Lanka, off-limits for decades because of the country’s civil war, is home to one of the richest collections of corals on the island, a study shows.
- Led by Jaffna native Ashani Arulananthan, the survey cataloged 113 species of hard coral, of which 36 have never been found anywhere else in Sri Lanka.
- Along with the high diversity, the researchers also found less damage from bleaching than in coral reefs elsewhere in Sri Lanka; however, they did note signs of degradation from pollution and fishing activity.
- Arulananthan says it’s important to conserve these diverse coral communities, which show a higher resilience to climate change impacts than other reefs around Sri Lanka.

Protected areas not exempt as blast fishing blows up in Sri Lanka
- Blast fishing is widely practiced in the seas around Sri Lanka, with even marine parks and historical shipwrecks not immune to this illegal practice.
- Authorities say blast fishers work as part of a network to evade capture and obtain explosives, including by smuggling them in by sea from India.
- The easy availability of explosives transcends conservation issues and raises serious national security concerns, experts say, pointing to the use of explosives in a coordinated terrorist attack on churches during Easter of 2019.
- Blast fishing also poses a threat to recreational divers, with a serious injury or even death spelling the end for Sri Lanka’s dive tourism industry that’s already reeling from the COVID-19 pandemic and ongoing economic crisis.

In Sri Lanka, a waterbird flips the parenting paradigm on its head
- Pheasant-tailed jacanas practice a system of polyandry that sees each female maintain a “harem” of males, each tasked with looking after a clutch of eggs.
- That’s led to unusual parenting roles that see the males incubate the eggs and care for the young, and the females play the leading role in defending against attacks by predators.
- These behaviors have been documented for the first time in a study that looked at jacanas in the Anawilundawa Sanctuary in Sri Lanka, one of six Ramsar wetlands in the country.
- Researchers posit that the species evolved this system of polyandry to maximize the number of chicks that grow into adulthood, given the high mortality rate from predation in the open habitat of the wetlands.

Zoo animals not immune to Sri Lanka’s economic rout as food prices surge
- Skyrocketing food prices that have plunged Sri Lankans into hardship look set to affect the 4,500 animals at the country’s main zoo.
- Dehiwala Zoo in Colombo has been hit by both runaway inflation and a plunge in visitor revenue, leaving it scrambling for options to keep its animals fed.
- One measure under consideration is to release some of its deer, while a more immediate plan is to replace increasingly expensive imported fruit with local produce, and to grow more food on site.
- With its charismatic species — elephants and big cats — accounting for the lion’s share of the food cost, the zoo also plans a foster parent program where members of the public can “adopt” these animals by contributing to their upkeep.

The curious case of the Sri Lankan national flower that wasn’t
- In 1986, Sri Lanka named a native blue water lily, known locally as nil manel, as its national flower, but a mistake in the official declaration meant an introduced species, violet in color and known as dam manel, has since been widely promoted as the national flower.
- Presidential greeting cards, postage stamps and school textbooks are among the official publications that propagated the mistaken identity, despite consensus from the scientific community on what the true species is, and despite later government efforts to correct the mistake.
- A 2017 study shows the blue and violet lilies are naturally hybridizing, further complicating efforts to disentangle the two, and prompting calls to select a new national flower.
- Several eye-catching candidates have been proposed, including the pink-and-crimson Vesak orchid (Dendrobium maccarthiae), binara (Exacum trinervium), and ma rath mal (Rhododendron arboreum zeylanicum).

In Sri Lankan waters, endangered but unprotected rays encounter a killing field
- Sri Lanka’s artisanal fishers are catching more manta and devil rays every year, including endangered species, than all global large industrial purse seine fisheries combined, a study shows.
- Manta and devil rays, collectively known as mobulid rays, have slow reproductive rates, so even low to moderate levels of bycatch can have major impacts on their populations.
- Driving their overexploitation is increased demand for their gill plates, prized in traditional Chinese medicine; before 2010, mobulid rays caught as bycatch were often released at sea due to lack of demand, but with the growth of the gill plate trade, they are increasingly brought to shore.
- ll the six species of mobulid rays found in Sri Lanka are endangered under the IUCN Red List, but none of them receive legal protection, even though Sri Lanka is a signatory to international treaties that require measures to protect these species.

Report sums up wealth of Sri Lanka’s biodiversity — and the threats it faces
- A new report identifies the main threats to biodiversity in Sri Lanka — river diversion, habitat loss, pollution, invasive species, overexploitation, and climate change — as well as updates the catalog of the island’s wealth of plant and animal life.
- The 6th National Report to the Convention on Biological Diversity is the most comprehensive analysis yet of the country’s biodiversity, with more than 100 experts from different fields contributing to the effort.
- It identifies five protected area clusters and recommends systematic interventions to link and expand these areas, while also stressing the need to safeguard biodiversity outside protected areas.
- It further recommends establishing a supervising body with wide powers to coordinate the activities of various government departments that currently manage wildlife, forests, biodiversity and marine environments separately.

A year since X-Press Pearl sinking, Sri Lanka is still waiting for compensation
- The sinking a year ago of the cargo vessel the X-Press Pearl was responsible for the single worst incident of plastic marine pollution in the world, according to a committee assessing the damages from the disaster.
- The ship caught fire off Colombo and eventually sank, leaking its cargo that contained 25 metric tons of nitric acid and some 50 billion plastic pellets.
- A year later, pellets are still washing up on shore and being cleared away by volunteers, while Sri Lanka tries to claim damages from the ship’s Singapore-based operators.
- It has received $3.7 million as initial compensation, but experts say the full compensation for the environmental damage could be as high as $7 billion — a figure that would be a lifeline for Sri Lanka as it experiences the worst economic crisis in its history.

Sri Lankan wins Linnean Medal, the ‘Nobel Prize for naturalists’ (commentary)
- Today the Linnean Medal was awarded at a London ceremony to the first Sri Lankan in its history: since 1888, the medal has been given annually to a botanist or a zoologist, or to one of each, in the same year.
- The list of winning scientists–from Alfred Wallace to Stephen Jay Gould–is long, yet the 2022 honoree in the zoology section is not a scientist in the formal sense, but rather a Sri Lankan author, educator and taxonomist, Rohan Pethiyagoda, who formerly served as deputy chair of the IUCN’s Species Survival Commission.
- “His impact on biodiversity research in Sri Lanka and beyond through his output and catalytic influence cannot be overestimated,” the award committee wrote, and the author of this commentary explains why this is so.
- This article is a commentary. The views expressed are those of the author, not necessarily Mongabay.

A whiz and a buzz: Bee attacks at Sri Lanka rock fortress point to need for toilets
- A leading bee expert in Sri Lanka has attributed seemingly unprovoked bee attacks on visitors at the Sigiriya rock fortress to poor toilet habits by the latter.
- With no toilet facilities at the popular tourist site, visitors urinate in a concealed corner of the fort, leaving puddles that the bees are drawn to for the sodium and sugar content.
- Wasantha Punchihewa says providing toilet facilities at Sigiriya would be a positive step toward ending the attacks, and a welcome change from authorities’ repeated efforts to eradicate the bee colonies.
- “Bees are not evil, and we can coexist if we can maintain a healthy distance and avoid unnecessary close encounters,” he says.

Study: Breeding adaptations help tree frogs thrive in different climates
- A new study shows how the Rhacophoridae family of Old World tree frogs has come to occupy a wide variety of environments across Asia and Africa, thanks to adaptations in its breeding methods.
- Frogs typically spend their larval stage in water as tadpoles, but different Rhacophorid species have also adapted other methods: gel nesting, foam nesting, and direct development.
- Foam and gel nests help the frogs lay a large number of eggs in more open and drier habitats to keep the eggs from getting dry, while direct development gives them an edge in spreading into warmer and drier areas where there are no water bodies.
- The study authors say the revelations about the frogs’ evolutionary past will be useful in predicting their responses to current and future climate changes, and hence their conservation.

Newly described plant is latest fruit of Sri Lankan botanists’ collaboration
- Researchers in Sri Lanka have described a new-to-science species of flowering plant, categorizing it as critically endangered because of its small and declining population and restricted range.
- Impatiens jacobdevlasii is named in honor of Dutch botanist Jacob de Vlas, co-author of a series of illustrated guides on the more than 3,000 known flowering plants of Sri Lanka.
- Sri Lanka is among the six global hotspots of impatiens plants, but many of its endemic species are threatened with extinction, with one considered possibly extinct after not having been seen in nearly a century.
- The new discovery also highlights the spirit of collaboration among a young cohort of Sri Lankan botanists, whose work is inspiring greater interest in the island’s plant life, and a growing body of new discoveries.

To gauge impact of nitrogen pollution, Sri Lanka project looks to lichens
- Researchers in Sri Lanka are studying how atmospheric nitrogen pollution affects lichens as a proxy for vegetation, to better understand how plants and soil are coping with the increasing volumes of nitrogen humans are releasing into the atmosphere.
- South Asia is a global hotspot for atmospheric nitrogen pollution, caused mainly by fertilizer emissions, as well as the burning of fossil fuels.
- Ammonia and nitrous oxide, the “reactive” forms of nitrogen in the atmosphere, are up to 300 times more powerful greenhouse gases than carbon dioxide, but also have direct impacts on human health, plant growth, and soil nutrient balance, with potentially severe impacts on food security.
- A U.N.-sponsored campaign, launched in Colombo in 2019, aims to halve nitrogen waste by 2030.

Sri Lanka’s environmentalists brace for economic meltdown’s toll on nature
- The deepening economic crisis in Sri Lanka is expected to hit the environment and biodiversity conservation hard, experts warn.
- Acute fuel shortages mean the Department of Wildlife Conservation having to ration out fuel, when it can get it, for its patrol vehicles, while its revenue from tourism receipts at national parks has evaporated.
- Experts warn that skyrocketing prices of food and other essentials could push a growing number of desperate Sri Lankans into environmental crimes such as illegal logging for firewood, poaching for meat, and sand mining.
- The crisis also threatens to undo hard-earned gains and undermine future commitments, such as programs on emissions reduction, ending deforestation, and achieving the Sustainable Development Goals.

For Sri Lanka’s crows, following the trash is all part of the hustle
- The International Crow and Raven Appreciation Day, on April 27, celebrates one of the least-liked but most intelligent groups of birds around.
- In Sri Lanka, home to two crow species, the birds are widely seen as a nuisance — but one enabled by the continued practice of poor waste management, which draws crows in flocks of up to 500.
- In “following the trash,” crows now occur even in wilderness havens such as Horton Plains National Park, where they feed on the trash left by human visitors, as well as on native wildlife species.
- Scientists studying Sri Lanka’s crows say the best way to get their population under control is through better management of the country’s waste, rather than the more extreme options of killing them or destroying their eggs.

Shining a light on Sri Lanka’s little-studied pangolins: Q&A with Priyan Perera
- Sri Lanka’s small population of Indian pangolins has long been threatened by hunting for domestic bushmeat consumption, but conservationists have identified an emerging trend of the animals being captured for trafficking abroad.
- Efforts to protect the species here have failed to take off as a result of poor general awareness about the animal, persistent myths about eating its flesh, and a dearth of scientific studies into Sri Lanka’s pangolins.
- Priyan Perera, a globally recognized expert on the species, says he hopes to change that, starting by first filling in the knowledge gaps about the pangolins and their behavior, while also raising awareness in communities and schools to discourage hunting.
- In an interview with Mongabay, Perera talks about the importance of better understanding Sri Lanka’s Indian pangolins, incidents pointing to the nascent trafficking trend, and how to care for seized or injured pangolins.

Sri Lanka grapples with the problem of its fishers plundering waters abroad

COLOMBO — Mahalingam Kanapathi set off from his hometown of Beruwala in southwestern Sri Lanka in May 2021. Less than a month later, and nearly 3,000 kilometers (1,900 miles) away, the fishing boat he captained was seized by the coast guard of Seychelles. Kanapathi was charged and tried for illegal fishing in Seychelles waters. He […]
Poor waste management turns dump sites into death traps for Sri Lanka’s elephants
- Across Sri Lanka, municipal waste is regularly discarded in open garbage dumps, many of which are located near protected areas and other wildlife habitat, drawing elephants there in search of food.
- The deaths of several such foraging elephants has garnered global attention, thanks to a recent AP news report tweeted out by Leonardo DiCaprio, but local conservationists say they’ve been warning about the problem for a long time.
- A former head of the Department of Wildlife Conservation says decisions on where to establish new dump sites often ignore wildlife concerns, driven by “short-sighted, politically motivated” planning.
- But just keeping the elephants out of the dumps isn’t a solution; many of these animals are accustomed to raiding local farms for crops — a habit that they very quickly return to when dump sites are shut down, leading to yet another problem of human-elephant conflict.

Record seizures mark Sri Lanka’s rise as a smuggling hub for star tortoises
- The Indian star tortoise is the most smuggled tortoise species in the world, with thousands trafficked annually smuggled out from India, Sri Lanka and Pakistan despite a 2019 total ban on the international trade in the species.
- While India continues to be the main country of origin for wild-caught star tortoises, Sri Lanka has in recent years become both a prominent source country and transit hub for trafficking networks that move the animals to East and Southeast Asia.
- Experts have called for better collaboration between law enforcement authorities in the source countries, particularly India and Sri Lanka, to curb the smuggling, which studies say has thrived due to weak enforcement and corruption.
- Herpetologists also say releasing seized star tortoises from both India and Sri Lanka inside Sri Lankan national parks threatens to wipe out the unique characteristics of the latter population, making them genetically indistinct from their subcontinental cousins.

Photos: On Colombo’s outskirts, an urban birding paradise flourishes
- Sri Lanka’s largest urban wetland, centered around Lake Diyawanna near Colombo, is home to around 100 species of birds, both migratory and endemic.
- The extensive reed beds in the marshy lands provide the ideal nesting and feeding grounds for white-breasted waterhens (Amaurornis phoenicurus) and several species of egrets, storks, and herons.
- The area also retains thick wooded patches in addition to the ubiquitous coconut trees that attract rose-ringed parakeets (Psittacula krameri), black-hooded orioles (Oriolus xanthornus), brown-headed barbets (Megalaima zeylanica) and Asian koels (Eudynamys scolopaceus).
- The area’s bird life began to thrive in the absence of human-caused disturbances, due to lockdowns during the pandemic.

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