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Love for unusual animals made me what I am: Wildlife adventurer Nigel Marven
By Bhavana Akella
New Delhi: His love for “unusual” animals made him what he is today, world-renowned naturalist and wildlife TV presenter Nigel Marven says.
“I’m not particularly fond of dogs or cats, but unusual animals like snakes catch my attention. Their colours and amazing strategies for survival are a great learning,” Marvin, who was on an adventure trip to India to spot some of the country’s deadliest snakes, told in a telephonic interview from London.
Wildlife enthusiasts can catch his show “Deadliest Snakes With Nigel Marven” on Animal Planet, spotting the most venomous in the country.
Marven, who as a child never owned a toy car, instead had stick insects that walked along the washing lines at his home in Britain.
“I was never interested in train sets or toy cars as a kid. I always used to have stick insects that walked along the washing line or a hamster colony which I had when I was eight,” Marven said.
From that grew an abundant hunger to record the goings-on in the wild, particularly of snakes.
During his India visit, the whip scorpions, which spray vinegar-like substance, found extensively in western ghats, and colourful butterflies of the country collecting salt in the mud puddles, sea snakes of Andaman and the iconic Cobra snakes caught his attention in particular, he said.
There was a lovely scene where one of the most venomous sea snakes in the Andaman islands “was kissing me on the nose,” he said.
Some members of the Irula tribe in Chennai, who are experts at catching venomous snakes for the Indian government to make anti-venom, have helped him spot some of the most venomous snakes – which figured in the top three of his deadly list, Marven said.
India, home to over 300 species of snakes, has more than 50 venomous varieties, but Marven’s experience with them has been that unless one really hurts them, Indian snakes do not bite so easily.
Indian farmers walking in their fields know snakes can be very dangerous but understand that it’s a part of the eco-system to keep away the rats and mice, Marven said, adding that it’s a thing that he “loves” about India.
“I’ve noticed a declining number of snakes in many parts of the world. People don’t protect what they don’t know about. There is a need for more awareness about animal conservation,” Marven said mulling over many years of his experience working with nature and wildlife.
India has a “great wealth of wildlife, which needs to be protected,” Marven said.
India’s younger generation’s efforts to protect tigers and rhinos were particularly interesting for him to see, he said, expressing hope to work in India again to explore more of the country’s unexplored “wildlife wealth”.
Compared with globally known Australian presenter Steve Irwin, Marven said that for him, “animals are the stars” of his show.
“One must always remember that the animals are the stars and respect them. The films aren’t about me, they are about the snakes. I am just giving them a voice,” Marven said.
Not surprisingly, the philosophy of making animals the stars is something that he takes from one of the greatest naturalists the world has seen, David Attenborough.
International online casino Casino Days has published a report sharing their internal data on what types and brands of devices are used to play on the platform by users from the South Asian region.
Such aggregate data analyses allow the operator to optimise their website for the brands and models of devices people are actually using.
The insights gained through the research also help Casino Days tailor their services based on the better understanding of their clients and their needs.
Desktops and Tablets Lose the Battle vs Mobile
The primary data samples analysed by Casino Days reveal that mobile connections dominate the market in South Asia and are responsible for a whopping 96.6% of gaming sessions, while computers and tablets have negligible shares of 2.9% and 0.5% respectively.
The authors of the study point out that historically, playing online casino was exclusively done on computers, and attribute thе major shift to mobile that has unfolded over time to the wide spread of cheaper smartphones and mobile data plans in South Asia.
“Some of the reasons behind this massive difference in device type are affordability, technical advantages, as well as cheaper and more obtainable internet plans for mobiles than those for computers,” the researchers comment.
Xiaomi and Vivo Outperform Samsung, Apple Way Down in Rankings
Chinese brands Xiaomi and Vivo were used by 21.9% and 20.79% of Casino Days players from South Asia respectively, and together with the positioned in third place with a 18.1% share South Korean brand Samsung dominate the market among real money gamers in the region.
Cupertino, California-based Apple is way down in seventh with a user share of just 2.29%, overshadowed by Chinese brands Realme (11.43%), OPPO (11.23%), and OnePlus (4.07%).
Huawei is at the very bottom of the chart with a tiny share just below the single percent mark, trailing behind mobile devices by Motorola, Google, and Infinix.
The data on actual phone usage provided by Casino Days, even though limited to the gaming parts of the population of South Asia, paints a different picture from global statistics on smartphone shipments by vendors.
Apple and Samsung have been sharing the worldwide lead for over a decade, while current regional leader Xiaomi secured their third position globally just a couple of years ago.
Striking Android Dominance among South Asian Real Money Gaming Communities
The shifted market share patterns of the world’s top smartphone brands in South Asia observed by the Casino Days research paper reveal a striking dominance of Android devices at the expense of iOS-powered phones.
On the global level, Android enjoys a comfortable lead with a sizable 68.79% share which grows to nearly 79% when we look at the whole continent of Asia. The data on South Asian real money gaming communities suggests that Android’s dominance grows even higher and is north of the 90% mark.
Among the major factors behind these figures, the authors of the study point to the relative affordability of and greater availability of Android devices in the region, especially when manufactured locally in countries like India and Vietnam.
“And, with influencers and tech reviews putting emphasis on Android devices, the choice of mobile phone brand and OS becomes easy; Android has a much wider range of products and caters to the Asian online casino market in ways that Apple can’t due to technical limitations,” the researchers add.
The far better integration achieved by Google Pay compared to its counterpart Apple Pay has also played a crucial role in shaping the existing smartphone market trends.
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