It’s not the tiger – I have never been lucky enough to see one in the wild and I have never gone to Ranthambhore looking for one. I believe my time will come and I shall wait for it.
The creature I’m looking for is a rare little rodent (probably nocturnal) called the Malabar Spiny Dormouse (Platacanthomys lasiurus). I have seen only one picture of it (on India Nature Watch).
The Malabar Spiny Dormouse is the only living representative of its genus and has been reported from Kalakad Mundunthurai Tiger Reserve in Tamil Nadu.
So, if you see one, let me know.
Founder-editor of The Green Ogre, Beej began this blog as a solo writing project in 2006. A communications professional, he has worked as a corporate storyteller, journalist, travel writer, cartoonist and photo-blogger. He was formerly the founder-editor of Yahoo India's travel site.
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@Kalyan:
Divya at NCF, Valparai showed me the picture of the Spiny Dormouse that you had taken. Well, maybe that’s not a ‘good’ photograph by your lofty standards but I thought it was a very good one. 🙂
Dear Dr. Jayson,
Thank you very much for the paper. I shall write to you soon after reading it.
best,
Bijoy
Yep.. I have seen it twice in anamalaias and it was lovely. Still have not managed any good photograph though 🙁
We have carried out a detailed study on this species Malabar spiny dormouse. We have pictures and a report on this species. If interesested contact jayson.58@gmail.com
Dr.E.A.Jayson
Kerala Forest Research Institute
Peechi Thrissur, Kerala