Malaka Rodrigo

1 week ago | news.mongabay.com | Malaka Rodrigo

“This Is Not a Pearl,” a short film by Sri Lankan filmmaker Tharindu Ramanayaka, uses a poetic narrative of a pearl oyster mistaking toxic plastic pellets, or nurdles, for her pearl to symbolize the environmental devastation caused by the 2021 MV X-Press Pearl disaster. The sinking of the MV X-Press Pearl off Sri Lanka’s coast released 1,680 metric tons of plastic nurdles, marking the world’s largest nurdle spill and triggering long-term damage to marine ecosystems.

2 weeks ago | scroll.in | Malaka Rodrigo

After a fruitful safari at Wilpattu National Park, wildlife photographer Rohan Fonseka and his colleagues ventured toward the Maradanmaduwa area, hoping to catch a glimpse of a sloth bear. Their luck held as a full-grown bear emerged from the dry zone forest, offering rare and memorable photo opportunities. But what seemed like a rewarding end to the day turned tragic the next morning, when the same bear’s lifeless body was found near the corridor of the Maradanmaduwa wildlife circuit bungalow.

3 weeks ago | sundaytimes.lk | Malaka Rodrigo

View(s): By Malaka Rodrigo   Although the annual school sports events concluded without major incidents this year despite the rising heat, the traditional Aluth Avurudu games — once a source of joy for children — now warrant extra caution in the face of a changing climate. In March 2024, sixteen-year-old Vidurshan, a student from Ampara in Eastern Sri Lanka, collapsed midway through the inter-house marathon event. He died in hospital.

3 weeks ago | news.mongabay.com | Malaka Rodrigo

Wilpattu National Park, Sri Lanka’s largest and a prime location for year-round sloth bear sightings, has sparked concern after the sudden deaths of three sloth bears (Melursus ursinus inornatus) occurred within a span of a few weeks. As sloth bears like to feed on carrion, there are often concerns about these animals contracting swine flu, which is generally present in wild boar populations due to consumption of carcasses, posing a risk of zoonotic transmission.

4 weeks ago | news.mongabay.com | Malaka Rodrigo

Documented just once in 1919 at the Royal Botanical Gardens in Sri Lanka, an elusive mushroom has resurfaced more than a hundred years later, causing excitement among mycologists and nature lovers alike. The fungus is known for its phallic shape and foul-smelling spore mass, which attracts insects for spore dispersal — a unique strategy among fungi, which otherwise mostly use wind to disperse the spores.