Wild Fire : The Splendours of India\'s Animal Kingdom

Contents: I. Thoughts from elsewhere/Valmik Thapar. II. The Wildlife chronicles selectededited by Valmik Thapar. 1. The manticore/Pliny the elder. 2. Elephants versus snakes/Pliny the Elder. 3. The Rhinoceros in the reeds/Ibn Battuta. 4. The flying leeches/Ibn Battuta. 5. The Sultan of the monkeys/Ibn Battuta. 6. The man eater/Ibn Battuta. 7. Hunting wild ass/Babur. 8. Black deer/Babur. 9. The Rhinoceros and the elephants/Babur. 10. Wild elephants and a serpent/Abu’l-Fazl. 11. Akbar and his Leopards/Abu’l-Fazl. 12. The export of wildlife/Francois Pyrard. 13. The white cheetah/Jahangir. 14. Problems of pairing captive Cheetahs/Jahangir. 15. The Saras dance/Jahangir. 16. The python that swallowed the hare/Jahangir. 17. The falcons catch/William Blane. 18. The King and the Lion/William Hawkins. 19. Paradise on earth/Edward Terry. 20. Opium and the Lion Hunt/Francois Bernier. 21. The island Rhinoceros/Alexander Hamilton. 22. A dangerous Hunt/Asoph Ul Doulah. 23. The savage Rhino/Thomas Williamson. 24. The Lethal Weapon/ Henry Bevan. 25. The boa constrictor/Henry Bevan.26. The Lioness and the elephants/Douglas Dewar. 27. The tiger spirit/Daniel Johnson. 28. The two snakes/Daniel Johnson. 29. The Mohr and the Growl/Bishop Heber. 30. A Christmas story/James Gordon Elliott. 31. The peafowl and the tiger/James Gordon Elliott. 32. The silver Panther/James Gordon Elliott. 33. Talking bears/James Gordon Elliott. 34. Ghosts in the snow/James Gordon Elliott. 35. Acrobats and the Markhor/James Gordon Elliott. 36. The tiger and the performing antelopes /James Forbes. 37. Wolf attack/James Forbes. 38. The Hunter’s Allies/William Rice Smith. 39. The Rhinoceros versus the tiger/William Knighton Redfield.  40. Bird watching/James Inglis. 41. A fearful presence/James Inglis. 42. Taming the wild/Walter Campbell. 43. Stalking the Bison/Walter Campbell. 44. The wolves and the antelope/Walter Campbell. 45. The crafty wolves /Walter Campbell. 46. A bloody expedition/Henry Astbury Leveson. 47. The enchanted forest/Henry Astbury Leveson. 48. The black panther/Henry Astbury Leveson. 49. The elephant inside the tent/G.P. Sanderson. 50. The killer wolves of India/R.G. Burton. 51. The crocodile in the river/R.G. Burton. 52. An amazing gathering of birds/Edward Dowdeswell Lockwood. 53. The stag and the snake/Julius Barras. 54. Buffalo shooting in backergunge/Frank B. Simson. 55. Fierce courting Leopards/Frank B. Simson. 56. The jungle Orchestra/J. Moray Brown. 57. The falcon and the Cheetah/Sir Samuel W. Baker. 58. Earth and water/D. King Martin. 59. Stargazing/D. King Martin. 60. Birds in a Pie/J.D. Rees and George P. Sanderson. 61. Native beliefs/J.D. Rees and George P. Sanderson. 62. A royal battle/Thomas Pollok. 63. The tiger and the tusker/Richard Lydekker.  64. The sentinel/Isabel Savory. 65. The Marmots of the glaciers/Isabel Savory.  66. Portrait of a Shikari/A. Mervyn Smith. 67. The snake and the wild dogs/A. Mervyn Smith. 68. The temple wolf/A. Mervyn Smith. 69. The temple wolf boy/A. Mervyn Smith. 70. The buffalo and the wild dogs/A. Mervyn Smith. 71. A canine encounter/A. Mervyn Smith. 72. The Panther and the boar/John Daniel St. Joseph. 73. The Panther and his prey/John Daniel St. Joseph. 74. The diet of bears/John Daniel St. Joseph. 75. The forest dancers/John Daniel St. Joseph. 76. The brave monkey/John Daniel St. Joseph. 77. The monkey and the cobra/John Daniel St. Joseph. 78. The Hawk and the snake/John Daniel St. Joseph. 79. Searching for Ammon/D.M. Field. 80. The perfect day/Lady Lawrence. 81. The Lustrous tree/Lady Lawrence. 82. The bull track/E.P. Stebbing. 83. The fury of the bull/E.P. Stebbing. 84. Nature entangled with history/E.P. Stebbing. 85. The Pangolin or jungle carp/E.P. Stebbing. 86. Forest gems/E.P. Stebbing. 87. The leopard and the Doe/E.P. Stebbing. 88. Above the forest/Nigel Woodyatt.  89. The Chital and wild dogs/Bernard C. Ellison. 90. At the water’s edge/Gordon Casserly. 91. The mountain wilderness/E. Maxwell West. 92. The perfect picture/F.W. Champion. 93. The myth of the Mermaid/S.H. Prater. 94. Sport in the Satpura hills/R.G. Burton. 95. The precious Mohwa/R.G. Burton. 96. The owl and the Falcon/Jim Corbett. 97 Moonlit nights and understanding tigers/Jim Corbett. 98. The jackal and his meal/W. Robert Foran. 99. The buffalo and the Shikar party/W. Robert Foran. 100. The chronicle of the Civet cat/George Hogan Knowles. 101. The interlocked Antlers/George Hogan Knowles. 102. Wild dogs, a wild boar and a tiger/George Hogan Knowles.  103. A Rogue elephant/George Hogan Knowles. 104. My encounter with a leopard/Arthur W. Strachan. 105. The tiger by the stream/F.W. Champion. 106. The escape of Chota Hathi/John Symington. 107. The panther at the watering hole/R.G. Burton. 108. The language of the forest/R.G. Burton. 109. A funeral feat/R.G. Burton. 110. In the land of the Sambhur/E.A. Smythies. 111. The crocodile catchers/E.A. Farrington Evans. 112. When the panther met the red dogs/J.C. Danile. 113. The leopard and the Hyena/J.C. Daniel. 114. The curious case of the leopard and the boar/J.C. Danile.  115. The attack of the porcupine/J.C. Daniel. 116. White leopard/Arthur Musselwhite. 117. Monkey life/S.H. Prater. 118. The Asian elephant/J.H. Williams. 119. The bull Gaur/E.P. Gee. 120. Tigers and wild boar/A.N.W. Powell. 121. Calling wild tigers/A.N.W. Powell. 122. The wounded panther and the angry bees/Kenneth Anderson. 123. The intoxicating Mohua and three bears/J.E. Carrington Turner. 124. Motorcycling past leopards/J.E. Carrington Turner. 125. The superior leopard/Arjan Singh. 126. The Armoured Pangolin/Kenneth Anderson. 127. The Badmash Leopard/Hugh Allen. 128. A magnificent fighter/Patrick Hanley. 129. Elephants at play/Patrick Hanley. 130. The killer Python/Patrick Hanley. 131. The battle of the leopard and the python/Patrick Hanley. 132. The snow leopard/Shuja Ul Islam and John H. Rousch. 133. The Barasingha/George B. Schaller. 134. Tragedy with a Tusker/A.J.T. Johnsingh. 135. Raw Nature/K. Ullas Karanth. 136. The birth of a Gaur/M. Krishnan. 137. A magical river/Joanna Van Gruisen. 138. A Lethal encounter/E.R.C. Davidar. 139. The world around the tiger/Peter Jackson. 140. Monkey trouble/Khushwant Singh. 141. Mysterious caracals/Dharmendra Khandal. 142. The Den of Hyenas/Dharmendra Khandal. 143. The Indian wolf/Dharmendra Khandal. 144. Ranthambhore diaries/Dharmendra and Divya Khandal. 145. The trusting leopard/Ruskin Bond. 146. When guests come calling/Ruskin Bond. III. 147. Wild life/Valmik Thapar. 148. Notes on the contributors. 149. Photo credits. Selected bibliography.  A list of Indian mammals.

Conceived and composed over five years, Wild Fire brings the splendour and diversity of Indias animal kingdom to glorious and vivid life and brings together, for the very first time, the finest writing, photography and art on Indian animals over the past two thousand years.

Developed and edited by Valmik Thapar, one of our foremost wildlife experts, the book is divided into three sections. The first section, Thoughts from Elsewhere, written by Thapar, takes the reader on a quick tour of the country's natural heritage in the twenty-first century. It provides an overview of mammalian distribution, the characteristics of individual species, the evolution of the country's wildlife habitats, threats to the environment and much else besides. The second section, The Wildlife Chroniclescollects the finest accounts of Indias animals from the first century onwards. It has stories about the great predators-tigers, leopards, snow leopards, lions, golden cats and others, magnificent herbivores like the elephant, rhino, wild ox and the various species of deer and antelope, evocative accounts of some of the most striking animals in the country's including monkeys, squirrels and other arboreal creatures, as well as reports of rare sightings of river dolphins, bats, shrews and other lesser-known members of the animal kingdom. Contributors to this section include travellers, hunters, writers, photographers and naturalists such as Pliny the Elder, Ibn Battuta, Babur, Akbar, Francois Bernier, Isabel Savory, Jim Corbett, George Schaller, Kenneth Anderson, M. Krishnan, E. R. C. Davidar, Peter Jackson and Ruskin Bond. The third section, Wild Fire, contains a selection of some of the finest photographs ever taken of India's mammals.