TAMIL
Essays on wildlife
KUMARAN SATHASIVAM
INNUM PIRAKKATHA THALAIMURAIKKAGA: S. Theodore Baskaran; Uyirmmai Pathippagam, 11/29, Subramaniam Street, Abiramapuram, Chennai-600018. Rs. 120.
THIS WORK is a collection of 32 popular essays on wildlife, domestic animals and environmental topics which have appeared over the last few years in magazines and newspapers. The essays span a wide range of geographical locations, species, issues and naturalists. The varied fare includes birds in the Western Ghats, the status of the Indian rhinoceros, the Kurinji flower, the inaccurate wildlife reporting seen in newspapers, Jim Corbett and K.M. Mathew.
Many of the essays have a strong link with Tamil Nadu. Some of them deal with geographical features of the State. There is a moving description of the Amaravathi River for instance, and there is an account of the Adyar Estuary. One of the essays provides a comprehensive description of the wildlife of Tamil Nadu. Another is on rainforests and their restoration in Valparai. Even the work on the rhinoceros has a Tamil link. The author points out that a fossilised bone from a rhinoceros of the Indian one-horned species was unearthed at Sattankulam in the 1970s.
Another recurring theme is that of terms used in relation to wildlife in Tamil literature. The chapter on the gecko takes a humorous look at the widespread belief about the poisonous nature of this little creature.
The contents of this book are rich, though it has been unpretentiously brought out. Its title reminds us that wildlife is declining to a great extent everywhere. Posterity may only be able to read about it, not experience it.
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