Unlikely though it sounds, there is a Perehera still grander than that of the annual Kandy Perehera – but what has it got to do with Eve and her serpents?

If walking the dogs is anything, it has to be “Ordinary Special,” especially when taken down a path of flame tree flowers. But of all these flamboyants, which is the most recalcitrant? There’s something very special - in that most ordinary of ways - about walking the dog, or dogs, in my case. It’s taken a few years to understand what the exercise is really about, but I believe that both the hounds and I have now properly taught one another how to behave so we all get the

“A series of dreadful shrieks as if coming from a soul in great agony of torment,” wrote an anguished twitcher of the Sri Lankan Spot-bellied Eagle Owl. But is it alone sounding so fierce? What other owl howls might you encounter in Sri Lanka?

When sleeping rough in the jungle, keep a mongoose by your feet. Guarantors of safety, the little beast is the most overlooked contender for being Man’s Best Friend. But of the many that exist throughout the world, which ones will you find in Sri Lanka?

Sri Lanka, like ancient Rome, has strict - albeit invisible - notions of caste and class. And class, not being exclusively human, is no less apparent within its smaller mammalian world – its rodents, and rodent-like cousins: its rats, shrews, mice, and squirrels.

Scientists - and most especially fastidious taxonomists – are giddily divided about quite how many of Sri Lanka's mammals are endemic: 19? 40? But as their arguments rumble on, what are these mammals that have caused so much consternation, and where are you most likely to see them?

Which sea mammals can Sri Lanka rightly claim as its own – and did the Portuguese really find a mermaid on the shores of Mannar 500 years ago? Europeans first encountered mermaids in Sri Lanka 500 years ago. Just a few decades after arriving, the Portuguese, under the command of Constantino of Braganza, a cousin of the King of Portugal, tiring of the relatively successful raids upon his fleet by the Kings of Jaffna, decided war was the best way forward. His expedition, in No

Sri Lanka’s skinks have a degree of subtleness that propels that immaterial attribute into the outer galaxy - fallen angels, perfect for being not what they seem. But how can you ever tell them apart?

Of Sri Lanka’s bears, buffaloes and boars, which animal is its Bach? Which its Bhrams? And which is its heroic Beethoven?

Though occupying barely 1% of the world's total landmass, Sri Lanka hosts well over 2% of the world's recognised bat species. But are there 28 species here? Or 29? Or 37? How exactly do you count bats?

Sri Lanka was once home to tigers, lions, rhinos and hippos. But where are they to be found today? And what might disappear next?

Who was Chinta | And why does her death – and life – matter quite so much? Today is the saddest of days, for Chinta has died. The inexorable world will not stop its spin around the sun, nor will Sri Lanka pause to know this. Even in our little town of Galagedera, the news will affect just a few. But here on the estate, we all stop, deeply shocked, barely knowing how to react or what to do next. Chinta had been away from work for a day, complaining of being a little tired an