Getting to Know our Nocturnal Neighbours

 Getting to Know our Nocturnal Neighbours

Ganesh’s thoughts on nightly herp walks

When I first heard about our field trip to the ACCC, ATREE’s field station near KMTR, my first thoughts were about how relaxing it will be to stay close to a natural reserve once again, but at the same time, I was scared about being a guest for local wildlife, especially the reptiles and scorpions. The surroundings of ACCC are rich in biodiversity, and with the expertise of the staff, I was able to convince myself to take a glance at the nocturnal side of biodiversity. Generally, I would not dare to go into the surrounding vegetation, that too at night, so this trip was my first experience with the nocturnal biodiversity around us.

We went in the group with experts and I was glad that I did not run away from them. People were spotting various things which I would not have spotted ever on my own. We encountered tree mice, different species of snakes, some sleeping butterflies and scorpions. This experience was scary and beautiful at the same time. I want to give thanks to Dr. Thanigai, who made my first encounter with snakes very interesting. I was able to hold them and understand their nature better during our night walks.

I learned many things about all of the creatures, but the most surprising thing for me was spotting scorpions under UV light, a brilliant idea by Sneha, who was very enthusiastic about them. An interesting thing about scorpions that I got to know was they shed their exoskeleton and it has a green-blue glow under UV light that was just amazing to see.