Dr Ullas K. Karanth: India's Premier Tiger Conservationist

How can we protect our national animal? What can we do to better ensure the tiger’s long-term survival? A person who seriously thought about these questions five decades ago and dedicated his life to it is Ullas K. Karanth, an Indian wildlife conservation zoologist and a leading tiger expert. Dr Karanth has championed the cause of tigers through his groundbreaking works in India and other countries

- DR SAJITH CYRIAC

Ullas was born in 1948 in the wilderness landscape of Malenadu, Karnataka. He is the son of acclaimed Kannada writer Kota Shivarama Karanth who instilled in him a love for nature. Ullas studied in a Kannada-medium school. From his childhood days, he absolutely loved wildlife and read widely about animals. Though he originally trained to be an engineer at the National Institute of Technology, Surathkal (1971), because of his deep passion for wildlife biology, he obtained a Master’s degree in Wildlife Ecology from the University of Florida (1988) and a Doctorate in Applied Zoology from Mangalore University (1993).