Current Affairs Sep 2017 - Environment

News 1 - ‘Prakriti Khoj’- An Environment Quiz on Teachers’ Day

The Environment Ministry launched an environment awareness initiative, under which an online environmental quiz competition named “Prakriti Khoj” − an Environment Quiz to be conducted at the national level. The quiz was launched on September 5 on Teachers’ Day.

The objective of the quiz is to generate interest among schoolchildren about the science related to environment. The mode of quiz will be online through multiple-choice questions. A separate web portal − ‘www.ngc.nic.in’ containing information on the quiz has been developed by Ministry.

News 2 - New species of edible fish found in Kerala

A team of researchers has discovered a new species of edible freshwater fish while exploring the waters of the Pampa River in Pathanamthitta in Kerala. This new species is from the Labeo genus family and is named as Labeo filiferus. The fish could possibly be farmed on a commercial scale.

The new species were 20 to 40 cm long and weighed four to five kg. Thet are distinct from the other species of the genus in its features including black coloured body and fins, prominent barbels, smaller eyes, longer snout and elongated dorsal and anal fins.

News 3 - Endangered species of mouse deer released into the jungle in Telangana

The Telangana State Forest Department has re-introduced the ‘mouse deer’ into the forests of Nallamalla in Amrabad Tiger Reserve. The mouse deer is an endangered species. It is also called as the ‘spotted Chevrotain’.

Two males and six females were released into a specially made ‘reintroduction’ enclosure of over 2.14 hectares in the Mannunur range.

The Nehru Zoological Park in Hyderabad had collaborated with Laboratory for Conservation of Endangered Species (LaCONES) of Centre for Cellular and Molecular Biology (CCMB) to take up conservation of mouse deer.

News 4 - Long-Endangered Snow Leopard categorized to 'Vulnerable' Status

International Union for Conservation of Nature upgraded the status of Snow Leopard from an endangered species to 'vulnerable'. Nevertheless, the animals still face serious threats including poaching and loss of prey in their high Himalayan habitat. Snow leopards were categorized as endangered since 1972.

Since 3 years, a survey and an assessment concluded that numbers of snow leopards are not fewer than 2,500. The survey was carried out by researchers in an area covering some 1.8 million square kilometres across 12 countries in Asia.

News 5 - World's smallest squirrel discovered in Indonesian forest

Indonesian scientists have discovered the world's smallest squirrel in Borneo rain forest of Indonesia. The squirrel has been named as Bormean pigmy squirrel or exilisciurus exilis. It was found in Meratus mountain of South Kalimantan province.

The squirrel has a size of 73 mm long with weight of about 17 gram. Its body fur is mainly olive brown, grading to orange brown on the back of the neck and on top of the head. Its tail is grizzled brown and orange brown and its underside is pinkish brown.

News 6 - New species of Aquatic Snake discovered in the Western Ghats

Researchers have discovered a new species of non-venomous aquatic snake - Aquatic Rhabdops, from the north of Western Ghats in Maharashtra, Goa and northern Karnataka. The snake was earlier wrongly identified as the Olive Forest Snake, which is found in the Wayand district of Kerala.

The nocturnal snake hunts for prey underwater. The new species is named after its aquatic nature. The young ones and adults are different in color. The largest known specimen is 950mm in length.