India, Feb. 5 -- A ramble off the beaten tracks or on thorny, winding and precipitous game trails in the Shivalik foothills yields fascinating observations of wildlife, verging on the "exotic" as these are simply just not known or documented. I will focus on two such "discoveries".

I have explored the heart of the Shivaliks since my childhood, penetrating the deepest jungles where no human foot has left print on the proverbial sands of time. I had heard tales from grass cutters of Rock pythons or "serpent hermits" inhabiting the peaks, but had never seen one. My usual encounters with pythons were in seasonal rivulets below knifing through the base of hillocks. By pure chance, I stumbled upon a eight-foot young python atop a hillock overl...