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Dec 27, 1999
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SPECIAL SERIES Raman
Sukumar, 43
Conservationist
ELEPHANT
MAN
When
Raman Sukumar was a boy, his grandmother used to call him vanavasi --
"forest dweller". Even today he is a vanavasi studying elephants
in Mudumalai near Ooty. An IISC professor, he is one of the world's
leading authorities on the Asian elephant. As deputy chairman of the Asian
Elephant Specialist Group of the World Conservation Union, Sukumar is
finding ways to resolve human-elephant conflicts that occur when "civilisation"
invades forests. Sukumar's work could also help preserve many more species
in the elephant's habitat. "If the tiger is the spirit of the jungle,
the elephant is its body," says Sukumar. "Unless this conflict
is understood and resolved, elephants won't have a chance to survive in
the wild."
Having
spent over 20 years with these gentle giants, Sukumar should know.
-Stephen
David
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