Macro world
This gallery focuses on reptiles, amphibians and other tiny creatures, showing their often overlooked features up close as well as their habitats.
Saw-scaled viperHighly venomous. Superbly camouflaged. Incredibly fast striker. Smallest member of the Big four. Not to be messed around with. 
Hidden in plain sightJuvenile Saw-scaled viper. Highly venomous. Superbly camouflaged. Incredibly fast striker. Smallest member of the Big four. Not to be messed around with. 
Northern Western Ghats Vine Snake Green vine snakes are mildly venomous and excellently adapted to their arboreal life. As their name suggests they look exactly like vines, bright green and thin, and can be difficult to spot in habitat. One peculiar characteristic is the horizontal pupil. Watching them move on trees with guile is a delight! 
Vine snake body details This slender bodied snake has mastered the arboreal life. It moves and hunts on trees with immaculate stealth and ease. 
Bamboo Pit Viper Bamboo pit vipers are nocturnal ambush predators. They hold on to branches with their tails and wait for their prey to come to them. Even though vipers are relatively slow movers, once the prey is in range they strike with lightening fast speed. Highly venomous. 
Hump-nosed Pit Viper in habitat 
Hump-nosed Pit Viper 
Hump-nosed Pit Viper in habitat 
Malabar Pit Viper feeding on a Common tree frog. Malabar pit vipers are found in the rainforests of Western Ghats. These highly venomous snakes are seen in the wet season, then they disappear in the dry months. Along with being strikingly beautiful, they are very patient and skillful hunters. These nocturnal ambush predators, wait at the same spot, sometimes even for days together, waiting for prey to come to them. On a herping walk at Agumbe, spotted this viper gulping down its prey for that night, an incredible natural history moment. It was particularly interesting to observe how the viper used its independently moving fangs to inject venom as well as pull the frog inside while expanding its jaws. It took about 15-20min to swallow the whole frog. 
Coorg Yellow Bush Frog 
Wide-spread Fungoid Frog 
Malabar Gliding Frog 
Plain tiger butterfly 
The fallA Striped Tiger butterfly alights from a flower after feeding. 
Scales on Common Owl MothThis is the Owl moth. The owl-faced pattern must help in keeping predators away. Unlike butterflies, moths are usually neglected. But as you see here, moths possess beauty of their own. Their patterns are mesmerising and many have vivid colours. The hair-like structures which you see in the close-up are actually scales. Moths and butterflies get their colour from the colourful scales on their wings and body. Their wings don't have colours of their own. 
Blue banded bees communal roosting 
A damsel fly on top of a snail (Pirenella cingulata) 
Just two fish having a conversation by a puddleMudskippers are fish which spend more time on land than in water. They hold water in gill chambers which enable them to breathe. Commonly seen on mudflats and among mangroves during low tides. Mudskippers are able to ‘walk’ because of their elbow-like pectoral fins. 
Like a fish out of waterMudskippers are fish which spend more time on land than in water. They hold water in gill chambers which enable them to breathe. Commonly seen on mudflats and among mangroves during low tides. Mudskippers are able to ‘walk’ because of their elbow-like pectoral fins. 
Hammerhead worm 
Huntsman Spider 
Lynx spider in ambush.A lynx spider atop a wilting rose flower. It stays still in ambush, using the dried flower to its advantage. 
Tailed Cellar Spider 
Two-Tailed Spider 
Huntsman Spider © Atharva Raut. All rights reserved.
