Aparajita Datta, an Indian wildlife biologist was awarded the Whitley Award in London on Thursday for conservation of hornbills in Arunachal Pradesh, India
Hornbill conservator Aparajita Datta has done India proud. The wildlife biologist was awarded a Green Oscar for her work in the field of conserving hornbills in Arunachal Pradesh.
Datta has helped conserve two species of hornbills out of the 5 different ones that can be found in the zoologically unexplored and unprotected Eastern Himalayas.
The endangered Brown Hornbill (Anorrhinusausteni) and Rufous-necked Hornbill (Aceros nipalensis) are the two birds that Datta has been studying (pictures below).
As per Datta's scientific papers, Hornbills are endangered due to human intervention which include hunting for their beautiful beaks and feathers.
Hornbills that reside in tropical forests of the Eastern Himalayas generally feed on insects and fig trees.
Extensive deforestation in the area in the 18th century has affected the population of the hornbills in the area too.
Datta has won this award after a decade of work as a senior scientist at the Nature Conservation Foundation (NCF), a non-governmental organisation started in 1996 based in Mysore, India. Datta was one of the eight conservationists who won the award.
According to WFN, “Focussing on hornbills as a conservation flagship species, Dr Datta is seeking to improve the status of the bird’s populations outside protected areas by establishing models of community-based conservation. She is spreading knowledge of the needs of hornbills and their importance, as seed dispersers, in the maintenance of healthy forest ecosystems. Key to Dr Datta’s approach is raising awareness of the threats to the bird’s survival, and creating a wider rural and urban constituency for conservation through a participatory community outreach programme that gets people involved”, said WFN.
Aparajita who started her work from Namphada is passionate about plant-animal interaction. She developed this love for plants and animals during her childhood in Africa and due to her two inspiring biology teachers, one from Zambia and other from Kolkatta.
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