Instagram story viewer> @sarikalivingwild> Posts

Dr. Sarika Khanwilkar, conservation scientist

@sarikalivingwild

16.1K

followers

2645

following

Wildlife, people, & responsible travel
🎓 PhD in Ecology, @fulbrightindia Fellow
Work w/ @wildtigerorg @indiaecoacousticsnetwork
🇺🇸🇮🇳 Mixed

POSTS STORIES REELS TAGGED

Download All

Why don’t we tell billionaires to find an alternative livelihood? by @sarikalivingwild

96k

662

5 months ago

👀 @oxford_uni

Go follow @bujangpalala44

Edit: his name is Septian Andriki. I originally got his full name from the University of Oxford’s edited caption, which was wrong. Which is also problematic (for me and University of Oxford). I’m sorry for getting that wrong.

Keywords: colonialism, science, conservation, knowledge, erasure, Oxford university, global south voices, Indonesia, media by @sarikalivingwild

14k

387

a year ago

What happened at Yorkshire Wildlife Park was a tragedy for the deceased man, his family, and everyone involved. Also, language matters. Labeling this fatal accident as a “tiger attack” demonizes an animal that unexpectedly encountered a human in its enclosure.

The conservation community has asked the media repeatedly to use more neutral and factual language when discussing human-wildlife conflict. Though this accident took place in a captive animal facility, the guidelines are still applicable. by @sarikalivingwild

4k

130

2 days ago

Welcome to class @luke_tarrant. Asking why a tiger is in captivity is a great question. If a tiger is not rescued or not part of a recognized and coordinated conservation breeding program, then that tiger is being exploited. Yorkshire Wildlife Park, however, is not exploiting tigers. They’re accredited by the most recognized organization, the World Association of Zoos and Aquariums. Anybody discussing tigers in captivity and the role of zoos needs to be able to make this basic distinction.

I don’t love all the things that even accredited zoos do. But, oversimplifying this topic to become a sensational thought piece for social media is spreading misinformation.

Want scientifically accurate and ethical stories about tigers? I got you. by @sarikalivingwild

986

68

2 days ago

My thoughts on the tragic accident at Yorkshire Wildlife Park, a zoo accredited by the World Association of Zoos and Aquariums (WAZA).

I can’t believe I’m saying this, but incidents like these are common. My first question is always, is there a conservation purpose for that captive tiger? If a tiger is not rescued or not part of a recognized and coordinated conservation breeding program, then that tiger is being exploited. by @sarikalivingwild

182

3

4 days ago

Apply for the @clpawards Future Conservationist Award! Deadline is coming up. Go to the website to check eligibility.

Applications like this can be intimidating but don’t let that stop you from applying. You have over 2 weeks to get your application material together. Start now!

Disclaimer: I am and have never been affiliated with this program or employed by any organizations involved and have never applied this to grant. by @sarikalivingwild

208

5

4 days ago

Coexistence isn’t always peaceful. It isn’t always conflict. It’s a living relationship between people and the land. I learned about coexistence directly from the people living it, and I think you should too.

India is home to extraordinary diversity, in both its wildlife and its cultures. That biocultural diversity is worth protecting, and worth learning from. For India’s Wildlife Week, hear from Jhamsingh and Gomti Tekam of the Baiga Adivasi community. They live in the buffer zone of Kanha Tiger Reserve, where @thecorbettfoundation works.

These stories are part of Saanjha: Tales from Shared Lands, a storytelling initiative by Dasra that brings together voices of coexistence from communities across India. Read more stories of coexistence at @dasraindia by @sarikalivingwild

559

13

7 days ago

Is it just me or did I sound exactly like a grey francolin 👀 I think I found my calling by @sarikalivingwild

119

10

9 days ago

Viscerally, we always felt that our agroforestry plots support more biodiversity than the monoculture farms around them. It made sense: more trees, more layers, more food and shelter than a single crop. But "it makes sense" isn't evidence, and we'd never actually measured it.

So in January, ecologists Pooja Choksi and Sarika Khanwilkar tied palm-sized sound recorders to trees across 16 sites in Maharashtra. Eight were our agroforestry plots, four were ordinary monoculture farms nearby, and four were patches of the region's natural open grassland and scrub. Then they listened, for over two weeks straight.

Here's what came back:

The recorders picked up 75 bird species. That's 10 more than trained surveyors found the traditional way, standing still and listening.
The monoculture farms didn't have a single bird species of their own. Every bird heard there also turned up somewhere else. Our agroforestry sites had 8 species found nowhere else in the study, and the natural sites had 7.
A Rock Bush-Quail showed up only on our agroforestry plots. It's so little-studied that India's bird atlas lists it as "data deficient." Nobody saw it. The recorders heard it.

This was just a small pilot. The sites weren't statistically matched, and our plots got twice the sampling effort. So it's by no means a rigorous study. But what we have is a promising baseline that's worth building on properly.

In this conversation, our research team sits down with Pooja to talk through what we found, what we shouldn't conclude, why plot size matters when you're recording sound, and a field fail or two. The full conversation is coming soon.

You can learn more about the study findings in the latest edition of Hornbill Dispatch as well: https://farmersforforests.substack.com/p/hornbill-dispatch-17-300-fires-one
.
.
.
.
#farmersforforests #podcast #biodiversity #rockbushquail #agroforestry by @sarikalivingwild

148

6

9 days ago

Do you know what listening to animal sounds can reveal?

Most of us are familiar with the sounds of nature, like waking up to the sound of the dawn chorus, the symphony of bird calls that happens every morning. But, sounds like this are more than background noise, they’re valuable data.

Bioacoustics is a field of research that focuses on why and how living organisms produce and use sound. Researchers in India are using sound to locate and identify animals like bats, understand the behaviors of elephants in Assam, and understand the effectiveness of conservation strategies on birds in the Western Ghats.

For these stories and more, listen to “Wild Frequencies,” a 3-part podcast series where @mongabayindia shares the science and stories of sound from some of India’s leading bioacoustic researchers. The podcast is available on Spotify or Apple Podcasts.

Tell us your favorite nature sound or ask a question about bioacoustics in the comments ⬇️

ℹ️ Image and sound sources:
Photo of a Great Indian Hornbill by Anna Tarazevich. Accessible at pexels.com/photo/photo-of-a-black-and-yellow-hornbill-in-flight-6796555/

Sound of a Great Indian Hornbill (Buceros bicornis) by Vijay Ramesh

Sound of a Burrowing frog (Sphaerotheca breviceps) by Anurag Mishra, XC1074528. Accessible at xeno-canto.org/1074528

Sound of a Two-spotted Cricket (Gryllus bimaculatus) by Able Lawrence, XC796105. Accessible at xeno-canto.org/796105

Sound of a Pied Bush Chat (Saxicola caprata) by Peter Boesman, XC460236. Accessible at www.xeno-canto.org/460236 by @sarikalivingwild

332

8

11 days ago

Dreams come true ✨

Thanks @newcastleuni for appointing Anant Ambani as your new professor of sustainability. Bright futures ahead for billionaires! by @sarikalivingwild

28k

58

12 days ago

And it’s legal 😭

Wildlife like tigers and lions aren’t photo props for your vacation photos. by @sarikalivingwild

19k

43

13 days ago