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Air Date: 20-Aug-21 Scientist: Valmik Thapar Transcript: Heaviest Rainfall in the World Here's a program from our archives. Ambience: Monsoon, Peacock In parts of India, this month is the start of the monsoon, an annual season of rain that's heralded by the call of the peacock. I'm Jim Metzner, and this is the Pulse of the Planet. Valmik Thapar is with the World Conservation Union. Thapar: It's true that before the monsoon the male peacock is dancing and courting the females. It's the mating period. It's the courtship period. There's a lot of calling of the peacocks which herald the arrival of the monsoon. So folklore have taken the peacock as a symbol which calls the monsoon, which predicts that the clouds are going to come. That the skies are going to open and it's going to fall with rain. Humans and other animals await the monsoons rains and the fertility of life that they bring. Thapar: The whole landscape and every living organism including human beings, wait, look up at the sky and wait for the clouds to burst. When are they going to come? When is the rain going to come? And then there's this magical transformation where this yellow scorched landscape becomes lush and green and all the dried river parts are all full of flowing water and there are streams everywhere. It's just unbelievable because the rain comes down for two, three months and changes the visual sense of a forest completely and it's what really recharges the whole forest for another year. It's a whole new scene of wildlife that takes place. The monsoon season lasts through September, flooding India's rivers with some of the heaviest rainfall in the world. We've been listening to a program from our archives. If you want to hear more, check out our podcast. I'm Jim Metzner and this is the Pulse of the Planet.