Planet Earth's Young Defenders

Sanctuary’s Young Naturalists of the Year 2016

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The Sanctuary Wildlife Awards 2016 were held in Mumbai on December 2, 2016, and celebrated the incredible work of individuals and organisations from across India who inspire us with their commitment and passion towards protecting and conserving our natural heritage and our future.

DHRUV PRAJAPATI is 24 years old, from GUJARAT, and is deeply passionate about arachnids. He published several papers in important international journals such as Zootaxa and the Journal of Threatened Taxa. He hails from Gujarat, a state whose biodiversity hasn’t been studied well enough. Conservation of any species is only possible if we know of its existence and learn more about it to take the necessary steps to protect it. Dhruv is well on the way to change the conservation status of Gujarat’s spiders. During his Master’s dissertation research on the spiders of the Gujarat University campus, he found 77 species, some of which are rare and not previously reported from the state. Dhruv already has the discovery of six new spider species to his credit, two of which belong to the genus Cambalida Simon from the rare ant-mimicking spider family (Corinnidae), reported for the first time from Asia.