I have always had a fascination for animals and wild places in part due to an initial childhood spent in Africa and two inspiring biology teachers in school, in Zambia and later in Kolkata. After completing a Bachelor's degree in botany from Presidency College (which I mostly spent in the canteen loafing about), I finally translated my dreams of studying ecology into reality by joining the Wildlife Institute of India, Dehradun for a Master's degree in Wildlife Ecology. Those years were a wonderful learning experience and culminated in an initiation into the joys and trials of field research with a study on the space-use and foraging patterns of the Indian giant squirrel in the forests of Madhya Pradesh.
Following this, I assisted on several research projects for a few months in various parts of India, including a memorable 3 months in Gujarat trying to trap and track wolves. Subsequently, I conducted a study to assess the responses of arboreal mammals (primates and squirrels) to logging in Arunachal Pradesh, as a Research Fellow at the Wildlife Institute of India.
After that initial glimpse of Arunachal, I was hooked and shifted focus from vague ideas of studying marmot social behavior in Ladakh to research on the foraging, nesting, and the roosting ecology of hornbills in the tropical forests of Arunachal. I also examined their role as seed dispersers of primary forest trees. During my 3-year field work, I also got to learn much more about the history, culture and lifestyle of the people of Arunachal which has an amazing diversity of tribal communities and fell more in love with Arunachal.
After finishing my PhD, I finally left the Wildlife Institute of India, moved to Mysore and started working with the Nature Conservation Foundation and the Wildlife Conservation Society-India Program. I currently work as a wildlife biologist with the Nature Conservation Foundation in Mysore.
In 2002, as a follow-up to the hornbill study, I conducted a survey to assess the status of hornbills and hunting practices among tribal communities in eastern Arunachal. Subsequently, with help from knowledgeable tribal people, I found evidence for two new muntjac species, the leaf deer and the black barking deer in remote forests in eastern Arunachal, previously unreported from India.
More recently in 2003 on another survey in western Arunachal’s high-altitudes along with three NCF colleagues, we have described a primate (the Arunachal Macaque Macaca munzala), new to science.
My academic interests are in plant-animal interactions especially frugivory, seed dispersal and seed predation; phenology and structure of tropical rainforests; biology of hornbills and other rainforest frugivores; ecology of rainforest trees; impacts of logging, hunting and shifting cultivation on wildlife. I am now keen on re-initiating research into tree-frugivore interactions.
However, after several years of wildlife research in Arunachal, I felt the need to ‘do something’ to address some of the conservation problems (such as hunting) in the area. I also believe that local support is essential for long-term conservation success and that it is imperative that short-term costs borne by local communities around PAs need to be addressed and offset by conservation practitioners. This can only happen through a sincere engagement with local people and informed understanding of their socio-economic needs and attitudes to wildlife conservation to be able to work towards actually reconciling people and wildlife, a difficult proposition in many places, where wildlife conservations goals are most often in conflict with people’s immediate needs and wants.
I initiated a community-based conservation program in 2003 that aims to address wildlife conservation needs in Arunachal by focusing on ways of integrating tribal communities to monitor and conserve wildlife and their habitats. I am working primarily at two of the most important Protected Areas in Arunachal, the Namdapha National Park and the Pakke Wildlife Sanctuary. We are working with the marginalized Lisu people, the main tribal community in and around Namdapha. Several Lisu (erstwhile hunters) are engaged in the wildlife monitoring program. In addition, the program is helping provide medical support, training in health care, and education by supporting schools and teachers in the villages. Our work over the last 3 years has resulted in the community taking a stand against hunting and some reduction of hunting; however given lack of alternate livelihood options and several other factors, it will take some time before hunting can be controlled. We are also initiating livelihood options (horticulture, handicraft or eco-tourism). In Pakke, we continue to monitor hornbill populations, nests and roost sites and other wildlife with the help of local Nishi people.
I also am interested in conservation education. As part of our program I have co-written two books for children on hornbills and rainforests and produced other educational material to foster a greater awareness and appreciation of Indian wildlife among urban and rural children.
My research and conservation work has been supported for many years by the Wildlife Conservation Society with whom I was associated till recently. The current conservation program has also been financially supported by the National Geographic Society, the Disney Wildlife Conservation Fund and the Ford Foundation.