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What is the maximum prey size (e.g. weight, physical dimensions, etc.) that a single male lion or tiger can take alone without being in groups? Up to the size of a buffalo bull?

a - Introduction

The, often illegal, trade in wildlife products is enormous. Experts think the value is about $20 billion a year. According to them, there are millions of snares in the forests in southeastern Asia. It isn't much different in many parts of Africa. 

Snares do not distinguish between animals. If an animal is caught, it's doomed.   

One direct result of poaching is empty forests. Another is some species face extinction. In one decade only, thousands of tigers have been poached in Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia, Myanmar, Thailand, Sumatra and Malaysia. In Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia, tigers are now gone. In Malaysia, tigers are severely threatened. Same for Myanmar and Sumatra.  

Poaching also affects humans in that direct contact and consumption of wild animals not seldom results in disease. In Africa, a direct connection between the consumption of wild animals and viruses affecting humans has been proven. In Asia, it isn't any different.  

b - Thread purpose

The aim of this thread is to collect good information about the connection between poaching, trafficking and disease. Anything goes, provided it results in knowledge and understanding.

2020: India to cross 100GW renewable energy mark 
Presently, the issues hampering growth of renewables in India are lack of interest of financial institution to fund renewable energy projects, safeguard duty on imported solar panels, ambiguity over goods and services tax (GST) on solar equipment.

The PM-KUSUM scheme had three components -- 10,000 megawatts (MW) of decentralised ground mounted grid-connected renewable power plants (Component-A); installation of 200, 000 standalone solar powered agriculture pumps (Component-B); and solarisation of 100, 000 grid-connected solar powered agriculture pumps (Component-C).


India is all set to cross the 100GW renewable energy capacity mark in 2020 & can make rapid strides towards the ambitious 175GW clean energy target by 2022, provided the government keeps a close eye on key issues and deals with those well in time.

The government however needs to promote storage to ensure 24X7 clean energy supply as coal fired thermal power still remains the base load in the country.

Presently, the issues hampering growth of renewables in India are lack of interest of financial institution to fund renewable energy projects, safeguard duty on imported solar panels, ambiguity over goods and services tax (GST) on solar equipment and low investor sentiment due to delayed or non-payment by discoms to clean energy developers.
India's installed renewable energy generation capacity touched around 86GW by November-end. This includes solar, wind, small hydro, biomass, waste to energy.

Around 30GW renewable capacity including 18GW solar and 10GW wind energy is under implementation. Besides, around 40 GW including 36GW solar and 3.4GW wind energy, is being tendered.

"Together with other schemes being implemented by the government, I expect RE (Renewable Energy) sector to get a big boost in 2020 and the years thereafter. I expect our RE capacity to cross 100GW mark in 2020," Power and New & Renewable Energy Minister R K Singh told.
Singh said, "Our initiatives in 2020 will be aimed at achieving RE targets by providing an environment of policy certainty. Our efforts will be to minimise the risks and promote ease of doing business for investors, manufacturers and other stakeholders."

The government also needs to focus on storage of renewables based on rapidly improving technologies. The minister said storage is necessary not only for the growth of RE sector but is also a pre-condition to reduce our dependence on conventional energy resources like hydrocarbons and coal which are exhaustible and polluting.
The industry wants the government to bring a storage policy for over 100GW capacity to encourage private players to invest in the segment. It would encourage private players to set up storage facilities.
He said, "In simple words, development of storage systems is necessary in order to ensure 24×7 power supply using RE sources like solar and wind. We are committed for the growth and development of the storage systems such as Lithium-ion batteries, pumped Hydro and Hydrogen. We shall be technology neutral in this and allow the market to decide the appropriate systems in various performances depending on markets."

However, as per industry body Solar Power Developers Association (SPDA), as the year passed, the sector went through a real tough time due to various policy uncertainties both at central and state levels which laid heavy financial burden on the power generators.

The SPDA listed issues impacting the segment which includes uncertainty over GST rates for SPGS (solar power generating systems), forecasting & scheduling mechanism, continued safeguard duty on imported solar cell/ modules, provisional anti-dumping duty on import of material for module mounting structures, grid curtailment etc.

India’s Thermal and Renewable Capacity Additions every fiscal year, in MegaWatts. 
Source: Central Electricity Authority, MNRE, IEEFA Estimates. 

*This image is copyright of its original author

SPDA Director General Shekhar Dutt said, "The major hit came from Andhra Pradesh which initiated the renegotiation of closed PPAs (power purchase agreements) thereby raising question over sanctity of contracts and shaking the confidence of domestic as well as foreign investors in the sector."
He further said, "This (Andhra issue) was coupled with ill health of state DISCOMs which impacted the timely payments against power purchases. Some states topping the chart include Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Telangana and Tamil Nadu. This led to difficulty in raising finance specially from scheduled public and private banks who remained reluctant to invest in infrastructure projects."

According to portal PRAAPTI (Payment Ratification And Analysis in Power procurement for bringing Transparency in Invoicing of generators), the overdue outstanding of the discoms toward non-conventional or renewable energy generators is Rs 5,590 crore in October this year.
The overdue amount of discoms toward generators is even higher at around Rs 65,000 crore in case of conventional power generators like thermal and hydro in October this year.

The overdue outstanding of discoms are those dues which are not cleared even after 60 days of grace period offered by generators. Power producers give 60 days to discoms for paying bills for supply of electricity. After that, outstanding dues become overdue and generators charge penal interest on that in most cases.
In order to give relief to power generation companies (gencos), the Centre enforced a payment security mechanism from August 1. Under this mechanism, discoms are required to open letters of credit for getting power supply.

The government has also taken other steps like forming Dispute Resolution Committee to resolve contractual disputes in time bound manner and reduce number of litigations.

It has also made amendments in Standard Bidding Guidelines to broaden the definition of Force Majeure and increase of ceiling tariff has also supported the smooth deployment of solar projects

It has also launched the SARAL platform to asses and rank the readiness of states for rooftop segment helping investors to identify investment opportunities and states which need to be brought at par with others.

The industry is hopeful that in coming years, the GST rate would be brought down to 5 per cent, ceiling tariff increased and most importantly the E-reverse auction done away with and closed bidding process brought in again. Also, lenders will be encouraged to finance renewable energy projects.

In this thread post data about the honey badger.

They are powerful and small creatures

Hey guys. I had a question for you all, but I wasn't sure where to ask it.

I wanted your imput on certainly evolutionarily morphological ideas, i.e. why tigers and lions convergently evolved and how/why they differ physically from an adaptive POV & how jaguars diverged from other cats in their physicality and why.

I have my own ideas on the matter, but I really wanted you guys' thoughts! If you can direct me to where I can ask these questions, or if you could answer them, it'd be greatly appreaciated. Thanks!

I want to tell you something important before booking a safari in Ranthambore National Park. I recieve a lot of calls from direct client who enquire about safari booking in ranthambore and most of them says govt price is low then what you are offering, but they didnt know the real costing scenario.

The costing goes like this:
The amount of Rs 133 that you pay for the safari is just the Tourist Entry Fees , After reaching there you have to pay Vehicle entry fee ( around 150 rs), then TRDF (around 20 rs),

Vehicle rent ( around 500-600 rs) and Guide Fees (around 150-200 rs) total it costs around 900 or more (this is the price for canter safari of Indian citizen), and if you reach directly to the window it is not sure that you get the seat or not because there is a lot of rush and it takes time. So there is a possibility that after reaching there you do not get the entry on the day you desired for. (Prices are raised from oct 2018 (Around 250-300 INR) so the above mentioned prices are less then the current price)

So better option is to Book Ranthambore Tiger Safari though a Safari Booking Agent That would be much better, They will charge you extra around 100-150 Rs that is worth paying because they work hard to get your seat booked and you don't have to worry about anything, you just have to book the Tiger safari and the Canter or the Jeep whatever you have booked will Pickup from your hotel.

I was thinking it would be interesting to see which predation feats by felines members here find most impressive(must have video or Photo evidence) for lions it’s also important that you can assure the lion made the kill by him/her self. 
I’ll start with the tiger: 

Munna with a huge gaur bull kill. 

Hope this can be an interesting thread full of impressive feats by different cats.

I start a new topic about insectivorous mammals, other than the giant anteater. Often unrecognized but often essential too.

Dereck Joubert: " It’s an extraordinary treat seeing this member of the ‘shy five’ out and about – especially in the daylight hours. Sadly, the effects of climate change could make such encounters even rarer. Rising temperatures and increasing droughts can seriously restrict the abundance of aardvarks’ subterranean food (like ants and termites), with dire consequences. And as with so many other impacts on intricately interconnected ecosystems, one creature’s decline can have wide-ranging ripple effects. Just think about how many other animals, from hyenas to pythons to birds, rely on aardvark burrows for shelter and nesting. "