| PROFILEPEOPLE98 February 2017IN FOCUS
WIKICOMMONS, THE TIMES OF INDIA GROUP. © BCCL. ALL RIGHTS RESERVEDDR SALIM ALI
12 NOVEMBER, 1896 – 20 JUNE, 1987
No one has contributed as much to avian conservation
in India as ornithologist Dr Sálim Moizuddin Abdul Ali
H
E started off as a bird shikari (hunter).
To be fair, he was a 10-year-old then
and probably didn’t know any better,
but he did do a complete 180-degree.
The uncommonly coloured bird he shot
down with his toy air gun was identified
by then secretary of the Bombay Natural
History Society (BNHS) WS Millard
as a yellow-throated sparrow. Millard
then showed the young boy the society’s
collection of stuffed birds, igniting Ali’s
curiosity and setting him on the path
to being hailed as the Birdman of India.
Such a reputation did not come easy.
He did ruffle a few feathers along the way.
He was known to be a strict disciplinarian
when working in the field. He had frequentclashes with the BNHS regarding his
employment as their bird guide, effectively
leaving him without a job at one point.
Then, there was that fight to save
the 100-year-old institution from closure;
he wrote a letter to then Prime Minister
Pandit Nehru asking for funds, which were
granted. He took to educating the local
population about the need for conservation
and went on to usher in a more systematic
approach of identifying and studying birds,
among others. Dr. Ali spread his wings to
reach every swamp, grassland and hilltop
region in the country to study birds.
The result: his magnum opus, the 10-volume
Handbook of the Birds of India and Pakistan,
written with Dillon Ripley, which is still
referred to as the bird handbook.
Several of India’s undisturbed biospheres
are now protected national parks and
sanctuaries thanks to the considerable
influence Dr Ali had on the then government.
The Keoladeo Ghana National Park
(Rajasthan) and the Silent Valley National
Park (Kerala) are examples. He was awarded
the Padma Bhushan and the Padma
Vibhushan in 1958 and 1976 respectively.FACTS
- The Himalayan forest
thrush (Zoothera salimalii)
is the fourth bird species
to be discovered in India
since 1947. It is the first
Indian bird to be named
after Dr Salim Ali (pictured,
below left). - Dr Ali was the first to spot
the Siberian crane in 1936 –
he promptly shot one
and ate it! - The world-famous
Keoladeo Ghana National
Park is home to nesting
storks, herons, spoonbills
and ibises as well as hordes
of migrant bird species like
the magnificent Siberian
crane, which flies 3,000
miles in winter to reach
the sanctuary and is
an endangered species.
Special!
WILDLIFE
90 April 2017