Srinagar, Nov. 10 -- Beyond the celebrated Hangul lies a hidden natural world in Kashmir that remains poorly documented, rarely discussed and increasingly absent from public consciousness.

Kashmir's conservation conversation often begins and ends with the Hangul. The deer is a powerful symbol of the Valley's natural heritage and its survival rightly demands public attention. Yet beyond this familiar animal lies a largely unrecorded world, bats hunting above orchards after dusk, frogs breeding beside shrinking springs, beetles recycling leaf litter and insects pollinating the plants on which wider food chains depend.

This wilderness does not announce itself through spectacular landscapes. It exists in the darkness of forests, beneath fal...