Enigmatic Dogs
Started getting Mint on Saturdays on a friend’s suggestion and read a piece by Ananda Banerjee ‘ The dhole remains an enigma, even as it struggles for survival’ on 19th April 2014. More than happy on coming across a non-tiger piece on the front-page and positively agree on the species being an enigma. Dictionary.com refers to enigma as ‘ puzzling or inexplicable occurrence or situation’ and ‘ a person of puzzling or contradictory character ’. However, by the time I folded-up the paper, some questions had propped up. v ‘ It was last seen in north India a full 10 years ago, at Ranthambore in Rajasthan ’ ~ does this refer to tourists? Locals? Published literature? Or else? v ‘ After 35 years of my study there are still lingering questions ’ ~ Would not questions ever exist for each species given the dynamic socio-economic-ecological-climate situation in the landscapes today? v What about the people who share the landscapes with the species? Their views on and...