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Wildlife Conservation Trust

@wctindia

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Securing India's key wildernesses to safeguard wildlife, people, and rivers, and mitigate climate change.

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As the seasons change, so do the watercourses in the forest. Every year, this gentle stream, somewhere deep in the heart of the mighty Sahyadris, welcomes different guests.

Our team set up a camera trap at the edge of one such stream and let it quietly record. As the seasons changed, so did the stream and its visitors.

Who were these visitors? Watch to find out!

How many species did you spot visiting the stream? Tell us in the comments!

Footage Credit: WCT/Maharashtra Forest Department

#cameratrap #wildlifeconservation #wctindia taken in India by @wctindia

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2 days ago

What is the value of a single tree? Ask the many insects, spiders, birds, fungi, other plants, and microbes that a tree supports. Tree-related microhabitats together make up one of the core components of any forest. When trees are cut to divert forest areas for development projects or other human activities, scores of such microhabitats are lost forever undermining the integrity of forest ecosystems. Not to mention the disruption of ecosystem services that we as humans depend on.

‘Think Like An Ecologist’ is a comic series by Wildlife Conservation Trust.

Artwork by Akshaya Zachariah ( @elzac_18 )
Concept and script by Purva Variyar ( @purvavariyar )

#ThinkLikeAnEcologist #WildlifeComic #wctindia taken in India by @wctindia

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5 days ago

The onset of the monsoon is a challenging time for the forest department vis-à-vis combating wildlife crime. Consequently, field patrolling by frontline staff is given special attention during this period. However, equally critical as field measures against wildlife crime is equipping staff with the necessary theoretical knowledge and capacity-building tools to enable robust investigations and secure convictions for such crimes. This includes knowledge of the Wild Life (Protection) Act, 1972, including recent amendments, the nitty-gritty of wildlife crime detection, judicial procedures, and relevant provisions of the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita (BNSS).

This is where WCT’s Combatting Wildlife Crime Programme steps in. As part of this programme, supported by the DSP Group, we recently conducted a two-day Wildlife Law Enforcement Training workshop for 70 forest officers across the North Sagar and South Sagar Forest Divisions in Madhya Pradesh.

To ensure effective participation and understanding, these training sessions were conducted in both Hindi and English. WCT hopes that the right tools will aid and support the forest department in its fight against wildlife crime.

#wctindia #WildlifeCrime #LawEnforcement taken in India by @wctindia

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10 days ago

Our camera traps regularly capture unusual occurrences in nature. This chital stag, for instance, appears to be suffering from antleroma, a benign tumor-like overgrowth. The condition arises from a disruption in the normal testosterone cycle. When testosterone levels are insufficient antlers continue to grow in velvet with distal tips expanding into a rounded mass, like what is seen in this image. There is no significant concern for the population. It is not contagious and poses no threat to other animals.

Have you ever encountered a wild animal with such an unusual abnormality? If yes, kindly send those images to us along with your full name and the location where the photo was taken. #wctindia #cameratrapsindia #wildlifeconservation taken in India : इंडिया by @wctindia

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12 days ago

It is always exciting to view the camera trap footage of endemic or rare wildlife that our grantees share from their project sites! Our 2025-26 WCT-BEES grant awardee, Aditi Patil and her team at Conservation indica, captured the above camera trap footage of the Himalayan brown bear, musk deer, and the snow leopard, respectively, in Lahaul, Himachal Pradesh.

Conservation indica is working to promote human-Himalayan brown bear coexistence in the villages in Lahaul through sustainable, community-driven interventions, capacity building, and improved access to compensation for crop depredation by bears. Their larger goal is to demonstrate a scalable, non-lethal, community-driven conflict mitigation model for high-altitude carnivores in the Himalayas.

Applications for the 2026-27 cycle of the WCT-BEES Grants Programme are now open! Apply on or before July 20, 2026.

To know more and apply, visit the link in bio.

https://www.wildlifeconservationtrust.org/our-work/wct-bees-grants/

#smallgrants #WCTBEESGrants #conservationgrants #fundingconservation taken in India by @wctindia

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15 days ago

Species Recognition Model for Central Indian Landscapes: A Research Tool for Wildlife Conservation

Wildlife Conservation Trust, in collaboration with Aaddax Data Science, has developed an automated species recognition model specifically designed for the Central Indian landscape.

https://addaxdatascience.com/addaxai/

Its a stand alone open source software that can be run locally on your system offline. by @wctindia

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16 days ago

The camera trap is one of the most widely used technologies to monitor, study, estimate wildlife population size or mitigate human-wildlife conflict, globally. However, this technology comes with a significant challenge - processing and analysing the massive volumes of data captured! Manually sorting through thousands of camera trap images to identify and classify species is extraordinarily time consuming, as well as labour- and resource- intensive.

Wildlife Conservation Trust (WCT), in collaboration with Aadax Data Science, has developed an automated species recognition model using millions of camera trap images, specifically for the Central Indian landscape. This tool leverages machine learning and computer vision algorithms to automate the species classification process, addressing this critical bottleneck in wildlife research methodology.

“With a 97.3% accuracy rate and trained on over a million camera trap images, this model doesn't just save thousands of hours of manual labour, but it also brings standardised, bulletproof scientific credibility to wildlife monitoring across Central India. More importantly, it's open source and runs on your machine offline and requires zero coding skills,” says Anuj Alukathra ( @_anujkrishna_ ), Assistant Programme Manager at WCT, who was involved in developing this model.

#cameratrap #wctindia #aadaxdatascience taken in India by @wctindia

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16 days ago

“Stately” is an adjective that appears time and again in old natural history and shikar books to describe the sambar stag. Looking at this camera trap image, it’s hard to think of a more fitting word!

Once referred to as the “Indian Elk” by early British ‘sportsmen’ and naturalists, the sambar, among other things, differs from the true elk in one interesting respect. While elk have a fixed annual cycle of antler growth and shedding, sambar do not. At any given time of the year, some stags may be sporting fully developed hard antlers, while others may bear only pedicels or antlers in velvet.

Unlike other similarly-sized deer-species of India with multi-tined antlers such as the Swamp Deer and the Hangul, a mature sambar stag typically carries just three tines on each antler. Yet their immense size, heavy beams, and sweeping curves make them among the most impressive antlers of any Asian deer. Incidentally, while the sambar of the Terai are generally regarded as the largest in terms of body size, it is the sambar of central India that have historically been celebrated for bearing the largest antlers.

#sambarstag #cameratrapping #wctindia taken in India by @wctindia

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18 days ago

Inviting wildlife researchers and conservationists in India to apply for the WCT-BEES Grants for 2026-27.
The WCT-BEES Grants Programme offers two types of grants–
I) Wildlife Research Small Grant
II) Grassroots Conservation Small Grant
Both these grants have been curated to provide funding support to Indian wildlife researchers, grassroots conservationists, and conservation organisations. The WCT-BEES Grants will support work on endangered species and/or landscapes of exceptional biodiversity value.

Log on to www.wildlifeconservationtrust.org to learn moreand apply.

Don’t hesitate to reach out to us at smallgrants@wctindia.orgin case of any queries.

Application deadline: July 20, 2026.

Link in bio.
https://www.wildlifeconservationtrust.org/our-work/wct-bees-grants/

#smallgrants #WCTBEESGrants #conservationgrants #fundingconservation taken in India by @wctindia

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19 days ago

Where do the toxic chemicals in synthetic bug sprays and other pesticides go once released? Not only do they enter the bodies of target organisms, but they can also accumulate in and poison other living beings.

Exposure to pesticides can cause acute toxicity in humans. Many synthetic chemicals can disrupt endocrine functions, are carcinogenic and neurotoxic, and can even potentially lead to harmful genetic mutations, thus posing a serious threat to human and environmental health. Chemicals like synthetic pyrethroids are highly toxic to various insects, including important pollinators, and to aquatic life. Many of these chemicals linger in the environment for a long time impacting food chains and polluting water, air, soil, and food.

It is time to turn to more eco-friendly and safer alternatives such as biopesticides. For example, plant-based insecticidal sprays made from essential oils of neem, clove, citronella, tulsi etc., can be used instead of conventional chemical pesticides.

‘Think Like An Ecologist’ is a comic series by Wildlife Conservation Trust.

Visit our website to read, download, and share the comics for free.

https://www.wildlifeconservationtrust.org/home/think-like-an-ecologist-comic-series/

Artwork by Akshaya Zachariah ( @elzac_18 )
Concept and script by Purva Variyar ( @purvavariyar )

#thinklikeanecologist #wctindia #comic taken in Mumbai - मुंबई by @wctindia

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23 days ago

India’s most widespread wild cat, and yet so little is known about it.

The jungle cat (Felis chaus) is a small, highly adaptable predator found across wetlands, grasslands, forests, and even agricultural landscape throughout the subcontinent. It’s prey consists of rodents, birds, reptiles, and even the occasional bat! They quietly regulate prey populations that would otherwise go unchecked. Solitary by nature. Rarely seen. Often misidentified. As natural habitats shrink, this cat is forced closer to human settlements where it often finds itself in conflict that rarely ends in its favour.

Small cats are not “lesser” cats. They are essential parts of functioning ecosystems.

Learn to recognise them, and the critical role they play.
That is the first step toward their conservation.

Video Edit by Vijayant Khatri ( @vishu.wild )

#Junglecat #CameraTrap #wctindia taken in India by @wctindia

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25 days ago

We are inviting applications for the WCT-BEES Grants Programme for 2026-27!

The WCT-Biodiversity, Ecosystems, and Endangered Species Grants Programme (WCT-BEES Grants) aims to support critical conservation research and grassroots projects by awarding small grants to promising researchers, conservationists, and conservation organisations. The objective of our small grants programme is to encourage and strengthen on-ground nature conservation work in India.

Our small grants programme has supported 28 important conservation and research projects impacting more than 17 threatened species as well as endangered habitats.

Log on to www.wildlifeconservationtrust.org to learn more and apply.

Don’t hesitate to reach out to us at smallgrants@wctindia.org in case of any queries.

Last day to apply is July 20, 2026.

Link in bio.
https://www.wildlifeconservationtrust.org/our-work/wct-bees-grants/

#smallgrants #WCTBEESGrants #conservationgrants #fundingconservation taken in India by @wctindia

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a month ago