Who is the insect world’s greatest traveler? …And the prize goes to Pantala flavescens, a species of dragonfly. A British naturalist has claimed that this 5cm-long dragonfly may hold the record for the longest migration, from southern India to Africa and then back — a distance of 12,000 miles.
Andrew Buncombe of The Independent reports: ” ‘It’s an amazing story,’ said the naturalist, Charles Anderson, speaking by telephone from his home in Male, capital of the Maldives. ‘But what is beautiful is that the pieces of the puzzle fit together.’
“Mr Anderson first started thinking about the dragonflies after he arrived in the Maldives in 1983. Every year in October, millions of the creatures arrive in swarms, a phenomenon that is well known to local people and which they say heralds the beginning of the north-east monsoon.
“He discovered that the dragonflies in the Maldives arrived somewhat after similar swarms of the insects appeared in southern India. On the more southerly atolls of the Maldives, they appeared later still. The numbers peaked in November and December.
“Mr Anderson believes the dragonflies are heading to southern and east Africa, slowly making their way eastwards on the tradewinds. In the northern Seychelles, around 1,700 miles from India, the dragonflies appear in November. In Uganda they appear twice a year – in March and April and again in September, while in Mozambique and Tanzania they arrive in December.
“Mr Anderson has published his findings in the Journal of Tropical Ecology.
“(However,) the longest aerial migrations, however, are still those of birds. The Arctic tern travels every winter from Britain to the Southern Ocean and sometimes even reaches Australia – a round trip of more than 22,000 miles.
“The longest single non-stop journey is believed to be that of the bar-tailed godwit, pictured, a wading bird, which has been shown to fly 8,000 miles across the Pacific from Alaska to New Zealand in a continuous uninterrupted flight lasting eight days.” More here…
Swaraaj Chauhan describes his two-decade-long stint as a full-time journalist as eventful, purposeful, and full of joy and excitement. In 1993 he could foresee a different work culture appearing on the horizon, and decided to devote full time to teaching journalism (also, partly, with a desire to give back to the community from where he had enriched himself so much.)
Alongside, he worked for about a year in 1993 for the US State Department’s SPAN magazine, a nearly five-decade-old art and culture monthly magazine promoting US-India relations. It gave him an excellent opportunity to learn about things American, plus the pleasure of playing tennis in the lavish American embassy compound in the heart of New Delhi.
In !995 he joined WWF-India as a full-time media and environment education consultant and worked there for five years travelling a great deal, including to Husum in Germany as a part of the international team to formulate WWF’s Eco-tourism policy.
He taught journalism to honors students in a college affiliated to the University of Delhi, as also at the prestigious Indian Institute of Mass Communication where he lectured on “Development Journalism” to mid-career journalists/Information officers from the SAARC, African, East European and Latin American countries, for eight years.
In 2004 the BBC World Service Trust (BBC WST) selected him as a Trainer/Mentor for India under a European Union project. In 2008/09 He completed another European Union-funded project for the BBC WST related to Disaster Management and media coverage in two eastern States in India — West Bengal and Orissa.
Last year, he spent a couple of months in Australia and enjoyed trekking, and also taught for a while at the University of South Australia.
Recently, he was appointed as a Member of the Board of Studies at Chitkara University in Chandigarh, a beautiful city in North India designed by the famous Swiss/French architect Le Corbusier. He also teaches undergraduate and postgraduate students there.
He loves trekking, especially in the hills, and never misses an opportunity to play a game of tennis. The Western and Indian classical music are always within his reach for instant relaxation.
And last, but not least, is his firm belief in the power of the positive thought to heal oneself and others.