To most, especially if they belong to the currently potent Gen Z, or the counter-culture gang of the sixties, wild life might mean the "vida loca", the "high" life in every sense of the term, right?
To me, too, wild life has a huge appeal. For me, however, it refers to the ferocious forests where the footprints belong to majestic lions, terror-fic tigers, intelligent elephants, elusive snow leopards, bears of all types, sprinting deer and zippy hares n rabbits running races with the wind on ancient trails known only to gnarled trees and twisting creepers.
Yes, forests of all types, however much mankind might manage to destroy them, flourish and in all their truly wild beauty. Wild life, too, survives there, living proof of the adaptability beyond all possible Darwin's. Hence the importance of the World Wild Life Day.
Want proof? Yes, the jungle safaris! The lions' mesmerizing yet amused look captures the camera, rather than the other way round! Or the tigers with their famous "fearful symmetry"! Trapped they might feel by the gypsies on both sides, overloaded with the descendants of monkeys chattering, shrieking, and what not. Yet they quietly twist their way out.
My brother, Sanju, sent his son, nine year old Kunal, for a children's camp in a tiger reserve. Kunal came back with fabulous photos. How? "Oh, they are coolly moving about," was the kid's response!
Thus, in brief, big cats to smallest animals have learnt to adapt. Even when human beings have encroached their habitat, patiently and yet proudly they continue to lead their natural ways.
Beastly indeed we are. Poaching, international trade in animal parts, constant encroachment in to and destruction of deep forests, felling of trees in the name of development, wild life tourism, scarce funds, many are causes affecting the wild life.
Undoubtedly heart warming are the efforts at conservation, too. Though I do not exactly appreciate throwing food at them as if they were strays in a dirty lane, the Kevinson's of the animal world-mankind interface prove how responsive they are, and responsibly!
Luckily, circuses cannot ill-treat them any longer. Imaginative movies like "The Lion King" romanticise them almost in an anthropomorphic way. "Vantara" type of rescue and rehabilitation centers proliferate, despite the controversies. In other words, the wild jungles called metros and cities have taught human being to respect forests, wild life and the tribes co-habiting with them!
Pratima@Yes, wild life in all its forms is visually appealing. I find the sounds and silences of the wild life fascinating, too. The rustle of the leaves, the babble of the brooks, the swish n whoosh of the wind, the very many calls of animals "talking" to each other, and the unique profound silence, the soundscape is simply fabulous. Long live wild life, however many species might have been rendered extinct unfortunately.
Quote of the day: "Wild animals never kill for sport, " says J.A.Froude. Unlike so-called human beings!
Word of the day: savage Savage refers to an animal (or force of nature) fierce, violent, ferocious and uncontrolled. Jean-Jacques Rousseau had an interesting take on the "savage" though. More about it some other time.
No comments:
Post a Comment