PANAJI: In its efforts to bring attention to India’s lesser-known species and habitats, and build a conservation mindset – The Habitats Trust, recently launched ‘Wild You Were Sleeping’ a six-part original docuseries on Earth Day.
The series has been featuring stories of some of India’s most fascinating wild species that live in close proximity to humans but are not understood, often leading to conflict situations. The docuseries showcases short 7 – 9 minute episodes on each species and the upcoming episode will feature the shy and elusive, Smooth- coated Otter which is also a native to estuaries in Goa.
Smooth-coated Otter are threatened due to the presence of feral dogs, and occasional conflict with fisher-folk of the regions that they inhabit. The episode will be streamed at 11 am on 6th May 2022 on The Habitats Trust website as well as the social media channels – Facebook, YouTube and Instagram.
The first and second episode of Wild You Were Sleeping showcased the Malabar Pit-Viper and Greater Adjutant Stork, respectively. The upcoming episodes will feature the Striped Hyena, Desert Fox and Hoolock Gibbon. The series has been co-produced by leading documentary film company, Trippintoe Media.
The Habitats Trust continuously works towards producing original, engaging content to bring into the spotlight lesser-known species in India and draw attention to the challenges and threats to their existence.
‘Wild You Were Sleeping’ will provide a glimpse into the lives of six species that live around us. The films, while scientific in approach, will present the stories of the species in a simple yet creative format, to not only elicit empathy for the animals but rather, enhance a conservationist ethos amongst the general population, states a press release.
Rushikesh Chavan, Head, The Habitats Trust said: “India, a megadiverse country with only 2.4% of the world’s land area, accounts for 7-8% of all recorded species. Much of the conservation attention and efforts in India today are focused on select large, charismatic species that inhabit our forests. As urban dwellers, we rarely pay attention to the many species that co-inhabit our spaces and how our actions or lack of those may pose a threat to their existence. These species play an important role in maintaining balance in the ecosystems and food-webs and their rapidly dwindling population may force total collapse in the ecosystems, where they exist. At The Habitats Trust we continue to work towards demystifying many of these species and shed light on what threatens their existence in the hope of influencing more action for their conservation.”
Siddharth Ganesh, Founder, Trippintoe Media said: “We are delighted to co-produce ‘Wild You Were Sleeping’ with The Habitats Trust. The series will journey into the world of different species through rich location videos, time-lapse sequences and inputs from wildlife scientists and academicians. Given that each episode is only 7 to 9-minute long and will be available online, individuals will have the opportunity to watch them on-the-go or during breaks in their busy schedules. Our heartfelt gratitude to The Habitats Trust for partnering with us to narrate these stories in our trademark visually creative style.”
