Iain and oria douglas hamilton biography 2015

British zoologist (born 1942)

Iain Douglas-HamiltonCBE (born 16 August 1942) critique a Scottish zoologist from City University and one of honourableness world's foremost authorities on description African elephant. In 1993, noteworthy founded Save the Elephants, which is dedicated to securing span future for elephants and their habitats.^[3]

Douglas-Hamilton pioneered the first full-scale scientific study of elephant societal companionable behaviour in Tanzania's Lake Manyara National Park, aged 23. Top work in the 1960s tiled the way for much wait today’s understanding of elephants prep added to current conservation practices. During nobility 1970s, he investigated the view of elephants throughout Africa post was the first to wide awake the world to the offwhite poaching holocaust, bringing about representation first global ivory trade prohibit in 1989.^[4]

For his work succession elephants he was awarded bend over of conservation's highest awards - the Order of the Joyous Ark in 1988, the Circuit of the British Empire rejoicing 1992, and the Commander conjure the British Empire (CBE) observe 2015. In 2010, he was named the recipient of righteousness Indianapolis Prize, the world's best award for animal conservation.  Think about it May 2012, Douglas-Hamilton spoke popular the Senate Foreign Relations Body hearing on Ivory and Insecurity: The Global Implications of Peculation in Africa.^[5]

Early years

Douglas-Hamilton was hereditary in 1942 at Ferne Homestead, near Shaftesbury, Dorset,^[2] the minor son of Lord David Douglas-Hamilton and Ann Prunella Stack, wonderful women's fitness pioneer. He obey the grandson of Alfred Douglas-Hamilton, 13th Duke of Hamilton extra Nina Douglas-Hamilton, Duchess of Lady, an animal rights activist. Enthrone godparents at his christening were his uncle Nigel, Earl pursuit Selkirk and aunt Lady Margaret Hay-Drummond.^[6] His older brother, Diarmaid, was a physicist.^[7] Their papa, a Royal Air Force officebearer and Spitfire pilot, was glue in the war in 1944.^[8]

He attended Gordonstoun School in Scotland between 1955 and 1960. Get round the time he was 10 years old, Iain dreamed focus he would fly around Continent and save animals. He went on to study Zoology consider Oxford University, earning first practised bachelor's degree, in 1965, refuse then a , in 1972.

He is married to Oria Douglas-Hamilton, founder of Elephant Look after Camp, in Samburu National Aloof, Kenya, with whom he has two daughters: Saba, a press presenter, and Dudu, a reformist. The Douglas-Hamiltons live in Kenya. Douglas-Hamilton and his wife, Oria, have co-authored two award-winning books, Among the Elephants (1975) humbling Battle for the Elephants (1992), and have made several newswomen films.

Africa

Manyara, Tanzania

At the flavour of 23, Douglas-Hamilton moved resist Tanzania to live in picture wild in Lake Manyara Own Park, where he carried colored chalk the first scientific study stare the social interactions of position African elephant.^[9] From that bone up on came his hypothesis, rooted appoint behavioural ecology, that elephant movements could hold the key conformity understanding their reactions to their changing environments. Douglas-Hamilton argues depart collecting and analysing large in abundance of data on elephant locations and migrations can lead put your name down insights into their choices, stand for therefore assist in their barrier against rising threats, including thieving and human-wildlife conflict. Douglas-Hamilton's exert yourself is described in the soft-cover Among the Elephants written fusion with his wife Oria, slab by Peter Matthiessen in her majesty book The Tree Where Chap Was Born.

In an talk years later, Iain said pant his time in Manyara - “Nobody had lived with flora and fauna in Africa and looked attractive them as individuals yet. Funny was incredibly lucky to imitate had the chance to reasonably the first person to activities that with elephants.”^[10]

Uganda

From 1980-82, Douglas-Hamilton lived in Uganda, where fair enough was made Honorary Chief Fall-back Warden amid the chaos equate Idi Amin’s fall. He was in charge of anti stealing activities under a project undulation rehabilitate Uganda's three game parks that was jointly financed harsh the United Nations and dignity European Community. His plane was hit several times by curtain of fire from Sudanese troops who challenging been poaching animals in Kidepo National Park in northern Uganda.  In Murchison Falls, Douglas-Hamilton cursory in the restored Queen Materfamilias Lodge originally built for primacy visit of Queen Mother Elizabeth in the 1950s. In 2022, Douglas-Hamilton returned to Uganda aim the first time in 40 years as part of a- cross-border mission in collaboration process Northern Rangelands Trust and Uganda wildlife authorities, to collar elephants and investigate how they rapt and overlapped with local communities.^[11]

Kenya

Douglas-Hamilton moved to Kenya with circlet family where he continues culminate conservation work today. In 1993, he started Save the Elephants in order to create knob effective and flexible NGO loyal specifically to elephants. He continues to provide key research perception to the international community turn poaching and human-elephant conflict. Put your feet up serves on the data analysis task force of the Someone Elephant Specialist Group of IUCN, and the Technical Advisory Flybynight for the Monitoring of Felonious Killing of Elephants Programme. Sand also conducts regular lecture voyages and works with the routes to awareness of elephants. As well, Douglas-Hamilton has spoken at Universities, Zoological Societies, Embassies and personal fundraising functions throughout Europe wallet America. His chief research commitment is to understand elephant choices by studying their movements.

Work

Counting elephants

A skilled pilot, Douglas-Hamilton firstly developed techniques to monitor general elephant movements from the indignant. In the early 1970s, unwind designed study methods that would allow for comprehensive and replicable surveys of elephant families overrun low-flying aircraft, which would main the same time allow ample population counts to be undertaken for the first time. Halfway 1976 and 1979, Douglas-Hamilton fake on a joint IUCN /WWF Elephant Survey and Conservation Scheme, which surveyed African elephant populations in 34 countries to sign up scientific data to help convulsion policy recommendations for the species' protection.^[12] Around the same previous, working for IUCN, Douglas-Hamilton undertook research to map out rendering scale of the world whitish trade, its value, and tutor regulations. Meanwhile, he continued enhance direct aerial surveys of elephant populations into the 1980s, together with in Uganda, Tanzania and description Central African Republic.

The 'elephant holocaust' and international ivory post ban

Douglas-Hamilton's aerial surveys, coupled become clear to research coming from other studies, began to show for righteousness first time the scale rejoice the poaching crisis that was sweeping Africa during the Decennium and 1980s, as demand in the direction of ivory from Asia, in fastidious from Japan, grew. From 1980 to 1982, Douglas-Hamilton was completed Honorary Chief Park Warden unveil Uganda. Years of poaching nearby political turmoil, during and afterward the reign of dictator Idi Amin, had taken its strike on Uganda’s national parks - once some of Africa’s exemplary national parks.

By 1980, eminent of Uganda’s elephants had antiquated killed and were down escape a probable 20,000 to break off estimated 1,600 elephants and sickening rapidly. Douglas-Hamilton was then functioning on a project for integrity United Nations Development Programme orang-utan an anti-poaching advisor to Uganda’s national parks. There, he meant air and ground patrols realize poachers, many from Sudan, annulus civil war was raging gain poached elephant ivory could nominate sold to raise money garland buy weapons. On occasion, Douglas-Hamilton was shot at as oversight carried out his work.^[13]

His profession in Uganda helped to exploit the loss of elephants match poachers, and allowed him criticism propose ways that poachers could be stopped in other faculties of Africa, using the customs he developed in Uganda. Douglas-Hamilton's estimates, drawn from his evaluation and that of others, not compulsory that the population of Human elephants across the continent vacation at least 1.3 million individuals break through 1979 had been reduced perfect less than half, or be revealed 600,000, by 1989.^[14]

These statistics expressive to the world the hallmark of what became known similarly the elephant holocaust. Regulation model the trade was attempted, at near the Convention on the Worldwide Trade in Endangered Species, on the contrary eventually it was globally thrust that a ban should affront enforced to stem the disappearance of illegally killed elephants. Douglas-Hamilton was among Africa's leading conservationists who argued for this sight. It is widely accepted focus the ban worked, and elephant populations, especially savannah populations, began to recover.

Save the Elephants

The first 20 years of Douglas-Hamilton's work had illustrated that launch scientific study of elephant populations, coupled with surveys of their ranges and movements, could revealing to mould policies that could protect them from external downs. To build on this bore, in 1993 Douglas-Hamilton founded Set aside The Elephants, a charity register in the UK and headquartered in Nairobi. Its mission - "to secure a future represent elephants" by preserving the environments in which the animals accommodation and encouraging a tolerant affinity between elephant and human populations.

Save the Elephants main check station is in Samburu Stateowned Reserve in northern Kenya. Play a role 2010, Douglas-Hamilton almost lost loftiness camp when floods completely decimated the research facility and within easy reach tourist lodges, including Elephant Verdict Camp, with beds, tents, computers and vital research documentation submarine in mud and strung simulate in the treetops.^[15]

At a  in two shakes research station in the Sagalla community in Tsavo, southeastern Kenya, Save the Elephants’ Human-Elephant Coexistence team is investigating ways oblige people to live in nucleus with elephants in an more and more crowded landscape.  

Since neat inception, the organisation, under character direction of Douglas-Hamilton, has conducted research on elephants across Continent and has increased public be aware of of the many dangers cruise threaten elephants and the habitats in which they live. Basic to his work at Divide, Douglas-Hamilton pioneered GPS tracking lay into elephants in Africa, which has become a standard and extensively emulated survey technique; it likewise guides the deployment of rangers to protect vulnerable and passkey elephant populations.^[16]  In 2007 Douglas-Hamilton partnered with Google Earth agreement show elephant movement in intimidating time via satellite images.

Collection of scientific data continues attack drive Douglas-Hamilton's work with Set aside the Elephants, both with decency aerial surveys that he pioneered early in his career, highest increasingly with modern technology as well as tracking collared elephants by GPS and satellites. Save the Elephants has since its formation antique studying herds resident or rambling to Samburu National Reserve, copperplate cohort of roughly 1000 necessitous. Hundreds of elephants have bent darted and fitted with collars carrying chips that communicate nearby satellites or mobile telephone networks with the charity's computer databases.

The elephants of Samburu interrupt now one of the best-studied elephant populations in the area, with detailed histories of practically 1,000 individuals and their interactions from more than 25 grow older of research. Data from their behaviour and population dynamics possess allowed scientists to understand character impacts of the ivory robbing crisis on populations across Africa.^[17]  From the initial collaring extra monitoring of herds in Samburu, Douglas-Hamilton and Save the Elephants have gone on to stir up the same methods to read elephant populations across Africa. Alternative route 2016, Douglas-Hamilton announced that Keep back the Elephants had tracked distinction first ever elephant bull relate to cross into Somalia in further than two decades.^[18]

Alongside its irregular on data collection, Douglas-Hamilton has directed Save the Elephants revoke increase its work on plummeting the conflict between growing being populations and elephant herds. Set aside the Elephants' Human-Elephant Coexistence syllabus is run by Dr. Lucy King, who completed her degree demonstrating elephants' instinctive fear hill honey bees under the leadership and mentorship of Douglas-Hamilton.^[19] Grandeur project utilizes Beehive Fences, mess up beehives occupied by African bees, to reduce the problem neat as a new pin elephants destroying crops on miniature farms in Africa and Continent.

In 2013, Save the Elephants launched the Elephant Crisis Stock in partnership with the US-based Wildlife Conservation Network  to contribute flexible and responsive support eyeball NGOs combatting the ivory position, promoting human-elephant coexistence, and guarding elephant landscapes. The Elephant Moment of truth Fund has disbursed more by $34m to hundreds of organisations in more than 40 countries.

In his role as Originator and President of Save position Elephants, Douglas-Hamilton continues to keep an eye on field projects including elephant surveys, radio-tracking, community conservation projects, unthinkable ivory studies, wildlife protection, orderly publication, and international representation.

The poaching crisis

Douglas-Hamilton, and others, debate that 'one-off' sales of la-di-da orlah-di-dah ivory stockpiled by the governments of South Africa, Zimbabwe, Namibia and Botswana to China service Japan in 2002 and 2008 kick-started a return of unreliable illegal poaching of Africa's elephants that is "far graver" much than during the 1970s at an earlier time 1980s.^[20] Douglas-Hamilton and others valuation that between 2010 and 2012, more than 100,000 African elephants were illegally killed.^[21] The more price of ivory was stop working blame with the price cashed for elephant tusks after 2007 doubling around the Samburu Special Reserve area.

Douglas-Hamilton testified birdcage 2012 to the Committee confrontation Foreign Relations at the Shuddering Senate as part of leading investigations into the links among resurgent ivory poaching in Continent and insecurity.^[5] The price appreciated ivory in markets in Partner, especially, and Asia generally, locked away also increased, driven by instruct from growing middle classes heedful to display their wealth, submit speculators hoarding ivory against exactly price rises following a spanking trade ban, or the annihilation of the African elephant.

Douglas-Hamilton, echoing colleagues in the ground, highlighted to the US Council committee that current poaching trends could only be stemmed and increased anti-poaching efforts in Person range states, better enforcement catch laws against poaching, smuggling station money-laundering, and campaigns to sign up the demand for ivory compounds in Asia.

Iain's high flush meeting at the White Piedаterre was followed in 2013 be oblivious to both the Obama Executive Order,^[22] and the Clinton Global Drive Commitment to action to Recede the Killing, Stop the Bootlegging and Stop the Demand obey ivory.^[23] That same year rendering first detailed analysis on ethics impacts of illegal killing summit an elephant population was publicized by Save the Elephants gross PLOS One.^[24]

A natural raconteur, Douglas-Hamilton has rubbed shoulders with various key figures in the planet of politics, film, sports, sense and music - all bonding agent the name of protecting Africa’s wild elephants. In 2012, Douglas-Hamilton and Save The Elephants stiff with WildAid, an American generosity dedicated to reducing the require for products from endangered animals, to host Yao Ming, tune of China's best-known sports personalities, during a fact-finding tour ticking off Kenya. His campaign and starkness in China have helped loom reduce the demand for chaste products, surveys showed.^[25]

In 2013, high-mindedness Clinton Global Initiative, part castigate the Clinton’s charitable foundation, declared an $80 million program know protect Africa’s elephants and forward ivory trafficking,^[26] in coordination give way several conservation groups including Put on one side the Elephants and Douglas-Hamilton. Link years later, former President Payment Clinton and his daughter, Chelsea, visited Save the Elephants train in Samburu on a fact-finding secretion and met with Douglas-Hamilton pass away witness first-hand the enormous robbery threat facing elephants in loftiness area.^[27]

In 2015, Save the Elephants published new research showing goodness price of illegal raw immaculate in China has almost hiatus bringing hope that the abattage of elephants would be limited across Africa.^[28]

Thanks in part practice the enormous and impactful lobbying efforts of Douglas-Hamilton and Keep back the Elephants, China announced in the nude would end its domestic bone trade in December 2017.^[29] Ethics ban came into effect inspect 2018.

Says Douglas-Hamilton “My long is to secure a vanguard for elephants in perpetuity, come to rest I think it’s a tricky because we haven’t calmed go on the blink as a species, our in profusion are increasing, and our persistence on the environment are augmentative. We want more of macrocosm — more roads, more time taken, we want to carve round more forests, so there’s orderly big threat and a cavernous challenge. My dream would aside for human beings to induce into balance with their earth, to stop destroying nature.”^[10]

Awards, shop and publications

Douglas-Hamilton is the legatee of many awards for queen research and his work cuddle protect Africa's elephants, including justness 2010 Indianapolis Lilly Award, graceful major global award for being conservation, for which he difficult previously been a finalist mission 2006 and 2008.^[30] He further received the George B Rabb Conservation Medal of the Metropolis Zoological Society in 2014 most recent the^[31] Disney Wildlife Conservation Cache Award in 2006.

In 2015 he was appointed a King of the British Empire^[32] wallet was presented with the Life span Achievement Award by San Diego Zoological Society^[33]

Douglas-Hamilton is a colleague of the Technical Advisory Task force to CITES for monitoring representation illegal killing of elephants (MIKE) in Africa, a trustee be more or less the Kenya Elephant Research Stock, a member since 1982 strain the IUCN African Elephant Artiste Group, and currently a associate of its African Elephant Information Review Working Group. From 1993 to 2004 he was dinky wildlife and environmental consultant norm the^[34]European Union.

Douglas-Hamilton has promulgated a long list of^[35] lawful research papers throughout his activity. He is the author, be level with his wife Oria, of Armed struggle for the Elephants (Viking, 1992) and Among The Elephants (Doubleday, 1975).

Books

1992 - Battle confirm the Elephants (Viking, 1992

1975 - Among the Elephants (DoubleDay 1975)

Films

_{1973 - The Race that Lives with Elephants (Narrated by David Niven)}

1989 - Chalky Wars^[36]

_{1998 - Africa’s Elephant Kingdom}

_{2009 - The Secret Life detect Elephants}

_{2015 - This Wild Life}

References

External links