Madhushri Mudke

Writer, thinker and a PhD scholar 

The Foot-Flagging Frogs Of The Western Ghats | Nature inFocus

In 2014, a team of researchers surveyed to uncover the diversity of frogs belonging to the family Micrixalidae. They found 24 species of dancing frogs across the Western Ghats of India. The size of these dancing frogs (males) ranged from 1.46 to 2.88cm; the Sali's Dancing Frog was the smallest and the Kalakkad Dancing Frog, the largest. The Kottigehar Dancing Frog is among the larger members of the family, with the male coming in at around 2.29cm.


The Kottigehar Dancing Frog is known to live
Zoological Society of London (ZSL) •

The Dancing Frogs of India

EDGE Fellow Madhushri Mudke tells us why the Kottigehar Dancing Frog deserves more attention.

In the year 2015, while I was working on an Environment Impact Assessment project in the Western Ghats of India, my advisor Dr Gururaja pointed out the Kottigehar Dancing Frog (Micrixalus kottigeharensis) to me.

I still remember that day quite vividly. We parked our car on the roadside. It wasn’t an easy place to park. There were huge potholes on the road and we had to scan the area before we found a
Lonely Conservationists •

Madhushri (Living with a Lack of Sense of Community and a Constant Environmental Guilt)

As conservationists and environmentalists, we feel guilty about our lifestyle choices almost everyday. When we make a choice with the knowledge that we are potentially harming the environment, we feel guilty or unhappy – this feeling is termed ‘Environmental Guilt’. Something as simple as a visit to the market to buy groceries can make or break our day. For example – the unnecessary use of plastic to wrap vegetables at a supermarket vis-à-vis a farmer’s market where vegetables are sold loose. Al
Research Matters •

Here’s why laboratory science alone cannot solve the extinction crisis

The ‘endangered’ giant Galapagos tortoise known only from the Galápagos archipelago was threatened with hunting and feral dogs. However, today, due to conservation efforts such as captive breeding and a ban on hunting, their numbers are going up. [Image Credits: CC BY 2.0 via Wikimedia Commons]

According to scientists, the sixth mass extinction event — defined by a loss of about three-fourths of all existing species on Earth over a short geological period — is already underway. It says that the
Lonely Conservationists •

Madhushri (What no one tells you about careers in wildlife)

Ten years ago, the dilemma of finding an appropriate career in wildlife that allowed me to ‘work with wildlife’ was a daunting path to take. One begins to ruminate – ‘I love animals’, ‘I love being in the wild’ or ‘We must save wildlife and forests to combat climate change’. Back in 2010, climate change was haunting humans like it is today and biodiversity losses were still alarming. Despite the popularity of NatGeo and Animal Planet, choosing a career that would last a lifetime and allow you to
The female Scientist •

How Media continues to perpetuate gender stereotypes!

Even today we look at the fulfilment of gender roles as an achievement in our everyday lives. I researched literature around the way mainstream media continues to perpetuate gender stereotypes. Through my writing, I take you through the basics of gender and sex, history and mass media’s continuous portrayal of sticking to gender norms. I highlight how this gender perpetuation affects us unknowingly, and I draw inspiration from (and mention) the famous article ‘Doing Gender’ by West and Zimmerman
Saevus •

Citizen Science Initiative

“Would you want to help scientists understand malformed frogs of India?” asks Madhushri Mudke

It isn’t surprising that the need for human consumption has left our environment and the biodiversity that it hosts, under siege. Studies from across the globe show that amphibians (largely frogs and toads) are suffering massive population declines. Evidence also points out that amphibian populations have declined by over 80% in the last four decades. Considering the case of a developing country like I
Women For One •

Rebel Genes

In the silence of the forest, I realized something. I cannot change as fast as society wants me to. In this fast-moving world, there is no place for sluggish people like me. Evolution would probably not take my lazy traits forward, and a “slow life” like mine would see the same fate as that of a giant ground sloth.

I’m one of the seven billion homo sapiens living off this planet. I speak a particular language, belong to some caste and race that reminds me that I must be married. Else, I will be
Medium •

What India’s Natural Heritage Taught Me About Life

What India’s Natural Heritage Taught Me About Life

As I reached Coorg at the break of day, I was welcomed by a jeep and the smile of the driver who had rushed to pick me up. My lonely soul immediately filled up with happiness on seeing someone so friendly. The previous night, I had started from Bangalore on a bumpy bus. I reached Madikeri at four in the morning and promptly fell asleep at the noisy bus stop. After about fifteen minutes of my intermittent sleep, I got up to notice that I was att