Manoj Nair

Biography

"Bewitched by the writings of E.H.A, Corbett, Krishnan, Schaller et al., I got bitten by the Natural History bug in childhood itself. The infection, which since has turned chronic, prompted me to acquire a Bachelor’s degree in Zoology from Kerala University and a Master’s degree in Wildlife Science from the Wildlife Institute of India. The call of the wild again induced me to join the Indian Forest Service in 2001 and later obtain a P.G. Diploma in Wildlife Management in 2009. And as luck would have it, my career till date has largely been in the wildlife sector, briefly in Assam (2003-2006) and since then in Odisha. Among my enjoyable postings were stints at the Assam State Zoo & Botanical Garden; Similipal Tiger Reserve (also a National Park, Biosphere Reserve and part of an Elephant Reserve); Debrigarh Wildlife Sanctuary; Wild Animal Conservation Centre, Sambalpur; Nandankanan Zoological Park & Wildlife Sanctuary and the State Botanical Garden, Odisha. Professionally, my interests lie in enhancing welfare and capacity of frontline staff in Protected Areas, use of technology in P.A. management, undertaking biological expeditions for multi-taxa surveys, mobilizing conservation action through community participation, promoting citizen science initiatives and understanding emerging trends in captive animal management. I’ve always been a naturalist at heart, keenly interested in the distribution and biogeography of Indian birds; natural history of reptiles, amphibians, butterflies and dragonflies; plant-animal interactions; and of late, the history of Indian Natural History. About fifty publications have resulted from my field work since 1990, including new species descriptions, new country records and several biogeographically significant range extensions (Select publications). I am a recipient of the E.P. Gee Gold Medal and Hill Memorial Prize (both from the Indira Gandhi National Forest Academy in 2004); Institute’s Gold Medal for Top Trainee, A.K.Chatterjee Medal, N.R. Nair Memorial Medal et al. (from the Wildlife Institute of India in 2009); and the Kailash Sankhala National Wildlife Award of the Ministry of Environment and Forests, Govt. of India for the year 2012. The grandeur of Nature has never ceased to enthral me and I try to share this joy and wonder with others through talks, nature walks, natural history articles and field guides (pdfs). I unwind through books (everything from Calvin & Hobbes to Camus), music (mostly Indian Classical & Ghazals, but almost anything but Hard Rock J), a lot of photography, a bit of poetry, some hiking and the occasional knock on the cricket nets. And of course, without the selfless encouragement of my wife Aswathy, I would have languished in what Tagore calls the ‘dreary desert sand of dead habit’. Our kids Myna and Govind keep the child in me alive, and at times, drive me nuts with their adorable mischief J. Now that I have returned to my alma mater on deputation, where I am a Faculty at the UNESCO Category 2 Centre since November 2014, I look forward to contributing my bit towards achieving the mandates of the Centre. And of course, I hope to tune in to the wild symphony of this verdant campus yet again, and chronicle some of its myriad moods for posterity."

Research Interest

Enhancing welfare and capacity of frontline staff in Protected Areas, use of technology in P.A. management, undertaking biological expeditions for multi-taxa surveys, mobilizing conservation action through community participation, promoting citizen science initiatives and understanding emerging trends in captive animal management