Exotic butterflies come calling - Article on The Hindu newspaper about Baiju K's & Kalesh S's work on Trivandrum Zoo Butterfly park (June 20, 2014)

The Red Pierrot warmed up quickly to its new ‘hosts.’ This striking little butterfly fluttered around the new plants in the Thiruvananthapuram Zoo, brought here only a couple of hours ago on Monday morning. R. Baiju watched, almost endearingly, as the unusual butterfly species finally adopted a leaf as its home, or egg-laying spot, even before the plants were taken out of their bags and planted into the soil.

He is a Hindi teacher of a government upper primary school in Palode but he was on leave on Monday to engage in a serious hobby of his. Mr. Baiju is one of the more active members of the Travancore Natural History Society (TNHS), the group that is supporting the city zoo in its endeavour to transform the neglected ‘Butterfly Park’ on its premises.

Exploring the anthills of wisdom - Article on The Hindu Newspaper About K Manoj's work on Ants (february 28, 2014)

K. Manoj inhabits two worlds — that of ants and humans. A bus repairman by profession, the 27-year-old Kerala State Road Transport Corporation (KSRTC) employee is a self-taught amateur natural historian whose passion is to observe and record the lives of ants.

It is not unusual for his neighbours at Vembayam to find the recreational myrmecologist scrambling over ground on all fours to document the lives of ants with his digital camera.At his father’s tea shop, Manoj would frown if somebody stopped his favourite black ants from making a beeline for the sugar jar.

He has innumerable ‘ant stories’ to regale listeners. A favourite narrative of his is the one on weaver ants, the aggressive red ones which knit leaves to make large nests on mango trees.“The weavers grow small insects in their colonies to harvest the nutrient-rich nectar they produce. It is like us humans keeping cows for milk,” he tells his audience.