Not many among us have heard of the name George Schaller, yet he remains among the world’s pre-eminent field biologists and wildlife conservationists. He has spent his lifetime fighting to save the world’s most critically endangered wildlife and has pioneered the methodology used in today’s studies.
Above: George Schaller.
In recognition of his contribution, National Geographic conferred it’s Lifetime Achievement Award upon him in 2007. In conjunction with this, National Geographic produced a documentary titled - Nature’s Greatest Defender, which covered the story of his career as a conservationist. Schaller retraces his career path by returning to some of his most iconic field sites across the world to see the current status of the animals there, interact with the people he has influenced and the scientists who have inherited his mantle.
As a part of this documentary Schaller visited Kanha National Park and spent a while interacting with my brother, Joseph Vattakaven.
Above: George Schaller and Ullas Karanth meet Joseph Vattakaven arriving on elephant back
Watching this documentary, it struck me how much George Schaller and Joseph Vattakaven had in common. I felt that as much as the documentary was about the achievements of Schaller, it also seemed to project the promise that Joseph holds towards the field of wildlife research and conservation.
Above: George Schaller and Joseph Vattakaven in animated discussion on an elephant back while looking for tigers.
Embedded below is an abridged version of the documentary (10 Mins) featuring the relevant portions where my brother appears. A more complete version covering other areas of Schaller’s work can be accessed on the National Geographic site. The documentary was telecast on the second week of December on the National Geographic channel.
Meanwhile Joseph has moved on and is currently joining WWF India, as the program coordinator for tiger conservation. I`m sure all of you will join me in wishing him all the best as he embarks on a new role in tiger conservation.
