Assam

The white-winged wood duck is so rarely seen that it has inspired several folktales in Assam’s swamp forests. Locals, who hear its ghostly call after dark, call it deo haanh or spirit duck. When filmmaker Jayshree Borgohain went looking for it, her search turned part-exploratory, part-spiritual. Will the forest spirits guide her quest?

In the 1980s, political unrest ravaged Assam's Manas National Park. But in the 2000s, local youth, the forest department, and the new government united to restore it. Today, Manas is a UNESCO World Heritage site and biodiversity hotspot.

Every monsoon, the critically endangered Bengal florican leaves the protected grasslands of Manas National Park to move into the adjacent human-dominated agricultural farms of Koklabari. Why does it make this unlikely move?

Assam's Hollongapar Gibbon Sanctuary is home to many creatures small and large, including the hoolock gibbon whose melodious song leads this forest's enchanting orchestra. However, steady destruction of the habitat is threatening to drown out the music

In the last few decades, Assam has turned into the epicentre of human-elephant conflict, with deaths and severe damages on both sides. But not all hope is lost

Pygmy hogs make sophisticated nests in the ground, amidst tall, thick grasses. Nest building is a carefully engineered group effort that shelters them and protects them from predators

As the eastern swamp deer grow older, they form bachelor groups of about 1O to 15 individuals. The stag code is simple — hang out and graze to your heart's content

The Brahmaputra river forms the northern boundary of Kaziranga National Park. Every monsoon, the river surges and floods nearly two-thirds of the forest, restoring and destroying all at once

The stump-tailed macaques spend most of their day walking across the dense rainforest floors of Hollongapar Gibbon Sanctuary. They only return to trees to search for food, or sleep. But foraging the forest floor makes them vulnerable to leopards and other predators. To save themselves, they hurriedly, stuff food in their expandable cheek pouches. If danger approaches, they quickly escape with the loot.