Sanctuary | People
Shashank, you are only 34
years old, but your interest
in wildlife and birds already
spans over a decade. Tell us
about your journey.
I remember being gifted a book
on the mammals of India by my
grandfather when I was just four.
And read it again and again until I
knew it by rote. When I was seven
our teacher asked us to write on
the animal we liked the most, and
while most of my friends wrote
on dogs and cats, I chose the
Asian elephant. My love for birds
was born when my grandmother
brought home a caged bird. Curious
about its identity, I looked in the
book Common Birds (India - the
Land and People) by Dr. Sálim Ali
and Laeeq Futehally and discovered
it was a Red-vented Bulbul. Not
happy with seeing the bird in a
cage, I began to spend virtually
every holiday and any spare time
I had exploring the Sanjay Gandhi
National Park and other birding
spots in Mumbai. On one such fi eld
trip, I met Dr. Anish Andheria who
promised to take me with him every
time he came, provided I stopped
walking alone inside the national
park. Between him and the inimitable
Dr. Parvish Pandya, Vice Principal of
Bhavan’s College, I was fortunate to
be gifted the practical knowledge I
needed to launch a life enriched by
an understanding of natural history,
ecology and conservation. through
my high school and college years.Was the Wildlife
Conservation Society a key
stepping stone?
It was indeed an important stepping
stone. My association with the
Society began in 2010 when I
joined the Masters programme
jointly off ered by WCS India and
NCBS. I received intensive scientifi c
training, interacted with and learned
from peers, wildlife biologists and
conservationists across the world.
Dr. Ajith Kumar, the Course Director,
guided me through those years.
And it was here that I met my wife,
Vishnupriya. After my Masters, I
joined WCS as a Research Associate
and worked with them on a National
Science Foundation (NSF)-fundedMeet Shashank Dalvi
This Sanctuary Wildlife Service Award 2017 winner’s career path
was set early in childhood. Between walks through Mumbai’s Sanjay
Gandhi National Park and explorations through virtually every
biogeographic zone on the Indian subcontinent, this remarkable young
man has described a new species of bird to science and personally
seen and documented as many as 1,190 avian species in India. A long-
time associate of author and birding expert, Bikram Grewal, he met
him to share both purpose and vision with Sanctuary readers.Naturalist, Conservationist, Scientist
VISHNUPRIYA SANKARARAMAN