K. Ullas Karanth Biography 
K. Ullas Karanth is a well-known conservation zoologist and a leading tiger expert based in Karnataka, who currently serves as the director of the Wildlife Conservation Society – India. He is the son of famous Kannada writer, Shivaram Karanth. He was honoured with Padma Sri Award by government of India in 2012 for his outstanding contributions to Wildlife Conservation and Environment Protection. The scientific use of camera traps in population density studies of large wild mammals in India made him a pioneer personality in the field of Wildlife Conservation and Environment Protection in the country. His efforts to save Bengal tigers have earned him a lot of praises and accolades.
Karanth was born in 1948 in Puttur, Karnataka. Currently he is settled in Bangalore. He was born as the son of veteran Kannada writer, K. Shivaram Karanth. Young Karanth read about naturalists trying to save tigers in Asia during his teens, and got drawn towards the field. He completed B.Tech in Mechanical Engineering from KREC in 1971, and later did farming for a few years. During these years he keenly observed flora and fauna. He later investigated conservation models for the Western Ghats, marking his new career beginning in this field.
In the second half of 1980s, he moved to US for advanced studies in Wildlife Conservation, and completed a training program in 1987, followed by Master’s degree in Wildlife Ecology from the University of Florida in 1988. Once he returned from US, he also took doctorate in Applied Zoology from Mangalore University in 1993. Monitoring the health of natural forests and biodiversity in the Nagarahole Wildlife Sanctuary and National Park in Karnataka, research on the ecology of tigers and other large mammals etc remained his top contributions. He also authored a few books on this field.
Published: N/A
Updated: July 12, 2018
