StellaWindsor21 at 10:28, 7 April 2024

2024-04-07T10:28:04Z

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{{short description|Indian wildlife conservationist}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=May 2023}}
{{Use Indian English|date=May 2023}}
{{Infobox scientist
|name = Aparajita Datta
|image = Aparajita Datta in Namdapha 01.jpg
|image_size =
|caption = Datta in 2006
|birth_date = 5 January 1970
|birth_place = [[Kolkata]], India
|death_date =
|death_place =
|field = [[Wildlife Conservation]], [[Conservation Biology]], [[Ecology]]
|work_institutions = [[Nature Conservation Foundation]]
|alma_mater = [[Wildlife Institute of India]], Dehradun
|doctoral_advisor =
|doctoral_students =
|known_for = [[Hornbill]]s
|influences =
|influenced =
|prizes = [[Whitley Awards (UK)|Whitley Award]]
|religion =
|footnotes =
|signature =
}}

[[File:Aparajita Datta - Turning hunters into conservationists.webm|thumb|Aparajita Datta - Turning hunters into conservationists: Video presentation, 7 minutes]]
[[File:Great Hornbill Male2.jpg|thumb|The Great Hornbill, photographed by Datta in 2015]]
[[File:Nature Education Teacher training 02.jpg|thumb|Teacher training workshop in Arunachal Pradesh]]
'''Aparajita Datta''' (born 1970) is an Indian [[Wildlife conservation|wildlife ecologist]] who works for the [[Nature Conservation Foundation]].<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.sanctuaryasia.com/people/opinions/10039-dr-aparajita-datta-wild-shades-of-grey.html|title=Dr. Aparajita Datta – Wild Shades Of Grey|publisher=Sanctuary Asia, Vol. XXXV|date=6 June 2015|accessdate=8 February 2020|language=|archive-date=29 January 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200129142459/https://www.sanctuaryasia.com/people/opinions/10039-dr-aparajita-datta-wild-shades-of-grey.html|url-status=dead}}</ref> Her research in the dense tropical forests of [[Arunachal Pradesh]] has successfully focused on [[hornbill]]s, saving them from poachers. In 2013, she was one of eight conservationists to receive the [[Whitley Awards (UK)|Whitley Award]].<ref name=jag>{{cite web|url=https://www.jagranjosh.com/current-affairs/a-young-indian-biologist-aparajita-datta-honoured-with-the-whitley-award-2013-1367651371-1|title=A Young Indian Biologist, Aparajita Datta Honoured With the Whitley Award 2013 |publisher=Jagran Josh|date=4 May 2013|accessdate=8 February 2020 |language=}}</ref><ref name="Ross2014">{{cite book|last=Ross|first=Michael Elsohn|title=A World of Her Own: 24 Amazing Women Explorers and Adventurers|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=f_HQAgAAQBAJ&pg=PA99|year=2014|publisher=Chicago Review Press|isbn=978-1-61374-438-3|pages=99–}}</ref> She is also a Co-Chair of the [https://iucnhornbills.org/structure/ IUCN Hornbill Specialist Group].

==Biography==
Born in [[Kolkata]] on 5 January 1970, in 1978 she moved with her family to [[Lusaka]], Zambia, where her father worked as an accountant. Noticing her interest in nature, her teacher at the [[International School of Lusaka]] gave her special attention, inviting her to the school's zoo club. After five years in Africa, the family returned to India where, after completing high school, she studied botany at [[Presidency University, Kolkata]]. On graduating, she joined the [[Wildlife Institute of India]] where she earned a master's degree in wildlife ecology in 1993. While at the university, she met another wildlife ecology student, Charudutt Mishra, whom she married in 1999.<ref name="Ross2014"/>

She then embarked on a doctorate at [[Saurashtra University]] in [[Rajkot]], Gujarat, on India's west coast, but work on her thesis took her back to Arunachal Pradesh where she investigated the ecology of hornbills in [[Pakhui Wildlife Sanctuary]], successfully completing her PhD. In it, she revealed that hornbills are vital for the environment as they spread tree seeds from over 80 species, some relying fully on hornbills. She called hornbills "the farmers of the forest".<ref name="Ross2014"/>

In 2002, Datta moved to [[Mysuru]] in the [[Chamundi Hills]] where she began to work for the Nature Conservation Foundation and the
[[Wildlife Conservation Society]]'s India programme in order to investigate the effects of tribal hunting on the hornbill population. As a result of contacts with local hunters, she revealed the presence of the [[leaf deer]] and the [[Muntjac|black barking deer]] in India. Joining her husband Mishra and the wildlife biologist [[Mysore Doreswamy Madhusudan]], she undertook an expedition to the heights of the [[Himalayas]] in Arunachal Pradesh where after sighting a Chinese [[goral]], they found a new species of monkey named the [[Arunachal macaque]].<ref name="Ross2014"/>

Datta then embarked on the pioneering task of taking a census of wildlife in Arunachal including bears, tigers, [[clouded leopard]]s and [[musk deer]] in [[Namdapha National Park]]. She also continued studying hornbills drawing on the assistance of former [[Lisu people|Lisu]] hunters and [[Nyishi people|Nyishi]] tribesmen. She helped them to discontinue hunting by providing medical support, health care and kindergartens for their children.<ref name="Ross2014"/> Datta explained her approach: "The Lisu people are right by our side. They’ve shown and told me things I would never otherwise have known. I think wildlife biologists often forget how much we depend on the insight of local people. To me part of the wonder of this incredible place is being there with the Lisu, sharing moments in the forest with them."<ref name=ng/>

Datta and her team of biologists have also helped the Lisu people find alternative sources of income by developing the marketing of their handicrafts and the attractions of nature tourism in the area.<ref name=jag/>

==Awards==
*2004: ''[[Sanctuary Asia]]'''s Earth Heroes Award (together with Charudutt Mishra)<ref name="Ross2014"/><ref>{{Cite web|date=2021-04-13|title=Chardutt Mishra And Aparajita|url=https://sanctuarynaturefoundation.org/award/chardutt-mishra-and-aparajita|access-date=2021-09-29|website=sanctuarynaturefoundation.org|language=en}}</ref>
*2009: [[Women of Discovery Awards|Women of Discovery Humanity Award]] for community-based conservation efforts<ref name="Ross2014"/>
*2010: [[National Geographic]] Emerging Explorer<ref name=ng>{{cite web|url=https://www.nationalgeographic.org/find-explorers/aparajita-datta|title=Emerging Explorer 2010: Aparajita Datta|publisher=National Geographic|accessdate=10 February 2020 |language=}}</ref>
*2013: Whitley Award<ref name=jag/>

== Books ==

* ''At the Feet of Living Things: Twenty-Five Years of Wildlife Research and Conservation in India'', Edited by Aparajita Datta, Rohan Arthur, and T. R. Shankar Raman (2022). HarperCollins, Gurugram, 378 pages. {{ISBN|9789394407855}}.
* ''Trees of Arunachal Pradesh: A Field Guide'', by Navendu Page, Aparajita Datta, and Bibidishananda Basu (2022). Nature Conservation Foundation, Mysuru, 591 pages. {{ISBN|9788195466344}}.

==References==
{{Reflist}}

{{authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Datta, Aparajita}}
[[Category:1970 births]]
[[Category:Living people]]
[[Category:Scientists from Kolkata]]
[[Category:20th-century Indian biologists]]
[[Category:21st-century Indian biologists]]
[[Category:Indian conservationists]]
[[Category:Indian women biologists]]
[[Category:Indian ecologists]]
[[Category:Conservation biologists]]
[[Category:20th-century Indian women scientists]]
[[Category:Himalayan studies]]

Aparajita Datta - Revision history

StellaWindsor21 at 10:28, 7 April 2024