Editor’s Note

This time, our feature story examines how a media campaign to protect migratory Amur falcons sparked community-led conservation, highlighting the role of governance, trust-building and local ownership in ensuring long-term sustainability.

Our Research in Translation offerings include a fun experiment to discover how African penguins, who are extremely social and live in colonies of 50–100 individuals, use visual cues to identify their partners in the crowd; and a research study that assessed the conservation and animal welfare risks of wildlife professionals posting selfies with their study animals on social media.

The Field Notes herein—from different parts of India—are guaranteed to delight: Malavika Bhatia and Prithvi Kini attempt to document fast-eroding ethnomycological practices in the Garo and Khasi Hills of Meghalaya; Arjun Kamdar applies Elinor Ostrom’s framework for social-ecological systems to understand human-elephant conflict in Assam—with some surprising findings; and Aaron Savio Lobo and his son Noam uncover lessons in natural history while angling for rabbitfish in Goa’s Mandovi River.

And finally, we have a couple of thought-provoking pieces on asking and answering sensitive questions when people are the subjects of conservation research, and how well-intentioned actions can actually harm wildlife.

— Devathi Parashuram