StephanieCrowthe at 16:14, 24 July 2025

2025-07-24T16:14:56Z

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{{Short description|Indian conservation and biodiversity research NGO}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=October 2018}}
{{Use Indian English|date=October 2018}}
{{Infobox organization
| name = Bombay Natural History Society
| image = BNHSlogo.png
| image_border =
| size = [[biodiversity research]]
| headquarters = Hornbill House, [[Mumbai]], [[India]]
| location = [[Mumbai]], India
| region_served = India
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| website = {{URL|https://bnhs.org/}}
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[[File:BNHS - Hornbill House (386658001).jpg|thumb|right|Hornbill House, the head office of the Bombay Natural History Society.]]
The '''Bombay Natural History Society''' ('''BNHS'''), founded on 15 September 1883, is one of the largest [[non-governmental organisation]]s in India engaged in [[Conservation movement|conservation]] and [[biodiversity]] research.<ref>[https://www.loc.gov/rr/international/asian/india/resources/india-organizations.html ''Organizations: India''] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100725090051/http://loc.gov/rr/international/asian/india/resources/india-organizations.html |date=25 July 2010 }}. US Library of Congress, Portals to the World. Retrieved 3 December 2006.</ref> It supports many research efforts through grants and publishes the ''[[Journal of the Bombay Natural History Society]]''. Many prominent naturalists, including the ornithologists [[Salim Ali (ornithologist)|Sálim Ali]] and [[S. Dillon Ripley]], have been associated with it.<ref>[http://www.bnhs.org/article.php?cid=MTU=&sid=MA%3D%3D&t=Mg==&aid=MQ%3D%3D BNHS:Mission and Vision] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071030145913/http://bnhs.org/article.php?cid=MTU%3D&sid=MA%3D%3D&t=Mg%3D%3D&aid=MQ%3D%3D |date=2007-10-30 }}, Bombay Natural History Society. Retrieved 3 December 2006.</ref>

==History==
[[File:JPNHS titlepage1a.jpg|right|thumb|Title page of volume 1, number 1, of the ''[[Journal of the Bombay Natural History Society]]'', 1886.]]
British hunters in Bombay organized a hunting group around 1811, their activities included riding with foxhounds and shooting. A Bombay Hunt was supported by Sir Bartle Frere from 1862. A natural history society was begun, possibly as spinoff from the Bombay Geographical Society, in 1856 by Doctors Don (of Karachee), Andrew Henderson Leith (surgeon), George Buist, and [[Henry John Carter]] along with [[Lawrence Hugh Jenkins]], then a registrar of the Supreme Court. The group did not last more than three years.<ref>{{cite book| title= The Gazetteer of Bombay City and Island. Volume III. |year=1910| publisher=Times Press| place=Bombay|pages=224–227|url=https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.55900/page/n256/mode/1up
}}</ref> On 15 September 1883 eight men interested in [[natural history]] met at [[Bombay]] in the Victoria and Albert Museum (now [[Bhau Daji Lad Museum]]) and:<ref name="JBNHS#1">{{cite journal|editor-last=Aitken|editor-first=E.H.|editor2-first=R. A. |editor2-last=Sterndale |date=January 1886|title=Introduction|journal=Journal of the Bombay Natural Society|publisher=Education Society's Press|location=Bombay|volume= 1|issue= 1|url=https://archive.org/details/journalofbombayn01bomb}}</ref>

{{Blockquote|constituted themselves as the Bombay Natural History Society. They proposed to meet monthly and exchange notes, exhibit interesting specimens and otherwise encourage each other.}}

According to [[Edward Hamilton Aitken|E. H. Aitken]] (the first honorary secretary, September 1883-March 1886), Dr D. MacDonald was the ''{{lang|la|fons et origo}}'' (Latin for "source and origin") of the society.<ref>{{cite journal |author=Millard, W.S. |year=1931 |title=The founders of the Bombay Natural History Society |url=https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/page/47540162 |journal=Journal of the Bombay Natural History Society |volume=35 |pages=196-197}}</ref> The other founders were Dr [[G. A. Maconachie]], [[Charles Swinhoe|Col. C. Swinhoe]], Mr J. C. Anderson, Mr J. Johnston, Dr [[Atmaram Pandurang]] and Dr [[Sakharam Arjun]].<ref>Rachel Reuben (2005) The Indian Founders. ''Hornbill'' (Apr-Jun): pp.13-15</ref> Mr [[H. M. Phipson]] (second honorary secretary, 1886–1906) was a part of the founding group. He lent a part of his wine shop at 18 Forbes Street to the BNHS as an office.<ref>{{cite journal| title=The founders, the builders and the guardians. Part I. |author=Ali, Salim| journal=Journal of the Bombay Natural History Society| year=1978| volume=75| issue=3| pages= 559–569|url=https://archive.org/stream/journalofbomba751978bomb#page/n15/mode/2up}}</ref>

In 1911, [[R. C. Wroughton]], a BNHS member and forest officer, organised a survey of mammals making use of the members spread through the [[Indian subcontinent]] to provide specimens. This was perhaps the first collaborative natural history study in the world. It resulted in a collection of 50,000 specimens in 12 years. Several new species were discovered, 47 publications were published, and the understanding of biogeographic boundaries was improved.<ref>Newton, Paul & Matt Ridley. Biology under the Raj. ''New Scientist''. (22 September 1983) pp. 857-867</ref>

In the early years, the ''Journal of the BNHS'' reviewed contemporary literature from other parts of the world. The description of ant-bird interactions in German by [[Erwin Stresemann]] was reviewed in a 1935 issue leading to the introduction of the term ''[[Anting (bird activity)|anting]]'' into English.

Today the BNHS is headquartered in the specially constructed 'Hornbill House' in southern [[Mumbai]]. It sponsors studies in Indian wildlife and conservation, and publishes a four-monthly journal, ''[[Journal of the Bombay Natural History Society]]'', as well as a quarterly magazine, ''Hornbill''.

BNHS is the partner of [[BirdLife International]] in India. It has been designated as a 'Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation' by the Department of Science and Technology. Its headquarter is in Mumbai and has one regional centre at Wetland Research and Training Centre, near [[Chilika Lake]], [[Odisha]].<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.thehindu.com/todays-paper/tp-national/bnhs-to-open-its-regional-centre-today/article24788326.ece|title=BNHS to open its regional centre today|newspaper=The Hindu|date=27 August 2018|access-date=14 October 2018|archive-date=27 July 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200727031641/https://www.thehindu.com/todays-paper/tp-national/bnhs-to-open-its-regional-centre-today/article24788326.ece|url-status=live}}</ref>

==BNHS logo==

The BNHS logo is the [[great hornbill]], inspired by a great hornbill named William, who lived on the premises of the Society from 1894 until 1920, during the honorary secretaryships of [[H. M. Phipson]] until 1906 and [[W. S. Millard]] from 1906 to 1920.<ref name=phipson-william>{{cite journal |title=The Great Indian Hornbill in captivity |volume=11 |url=http://biostor.org/reference/169867 |issue=2 |journal=Journal of the Bombay Natural History Society |author=Phipson, H M |year=1897 |pages=307–308 |access-date=19 May 2016 |archive-date=27 July 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200727022704/http://biostor.org/reference/169867 |url-status=live }}</ref> The logo was created in 1933, the golden jubilee year of the Society's founding.

===William===
According to H. M. Phipson, William was born in May 1894 and presented to the Society three months later by H. Ingle of [[Karwar]]. He reached his full length ({{convert|4.25|ft|m}}) by the end of his third year. His diet consisted of fruit (like plantains and wild figs) and also of live mice, scorpions, and plain raw meat, which he ate with relish.<ref name=phipson-william/> He apparently did not drink water, nor use it for bathing.<ref name=phipson-william/> William was known for catching tennis balls thrown at him from a distance of some 30 feet with his beak.<ref name=phipson-william/>

In his obituary of W. S. Millard, Sir [[Norman Boyd Kinnear|Norman Kinnear]] made the following remarks about William:<ref name=kinnear>{{cite journal |title=W. S. Millard |volume=50 |url=http://biostor.org/reference/169868 |journal=Journal of the Bombay Natural History Society |author=Kinnear, Norman B |year=1952 |issue=4304 |pages=910–913 |doi=10.1038/169690b0 |bibcode=1952Natur.169..690K |s2cid=29652369 |access-date=19 May 2016 |archive-date=27 July 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200727030659/http://biostor.org/reference/169868 |url-status=live |doi-access=free }}</ref> {{cquote|Every visitor to the Society's room in Appollo Street will remember the great Indian Hornbill, better known as the "office canary" which lived in a cage behind Millard's chair in Phipson & Co.'s office for 26 years and died in 1920. It is said its death was caused by swallowing a piece of wire, but in the past "William" had swallowed a lighted cigar without ill effects and I for my part think that the loss of his old friend was the principal cause.}}

<gallery class="center">
Image:Buceros bicornis -illustration in book.jpg|Profile by E. Comber (1897) of the great Indian hornbill, "William," who lived on the premises of the society from 1894 until 1920, and who would later be the model for its logo.
Image:William office canary2.jpg|Another photograph of "William," by E. Comber published in the ''Journal of the Bombay Natural History Society'', 1897.
</gallery>

==Initiatives==
===National Dragonfly festival===
The festival was started in 2018 in order to inform the public about integral role played by dragonflies in our environment. The Bombay Natural History Society has been organising the festival since then in association with [[World Wide Fund for Nature|WWF]] India, [[United Nations Development Programme]], [[United Nations Environment Programme]] and National Biodiversity Board of India. The local events which are the part of this nationwide festival are also organised by WWF India in association with various state agencies. The "Thumbimahotsavam" is a state butterfly festival of [[Kerala]] which is organised as a part of National Dragonfly festival.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.thehindu.com/news/national/kerala/kerala-to-host-dragonfly-festival/article32414553.ece|title=Kerala to host dragonfly festival|website=[[The Hindu]]|date=21 August 2020|access-date=2020-09-01|archive-date=7 September 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200907230714/https://www.thehindu.com/news/national/kerala/kerala-to-host-dragonfly-festival/article32414553.ece|url-status=live}}</ref>

===Asian Waterbird census===
The Asian waterbird census is an annual exercise undertaken in India by Bombay Natural History Society in association with [[Wetlands International]], in which enthusiastic birdwatchers count the birds by observing them near their respective breeding grounds. The exercise is a part of 'International waterbird census', an international exercise. It also aims to create awareness regarding bird species as well as health of the [[wetland]]s, which are facing severve threat amidst anthropogenic disturbance. It is conducted in the month of January every year.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.thehindu.com/news/cities/mumbai/BNHS-to-start-counting-Asian-Waterbird/article13984324.ece|title=BNHS to start counting Asian Waterbird|website=[[The Hindu]]|date=6 January 2016|access-date=2020-09-04|archive-date=14 June 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220614123658/https://www.thehindu.com/news/cities/mumbai/BNHS-to-start-counting-Asian-Waterbird/article13984324.ece|url-status=live}}</ref>

'''Education Programmes'''

The BNHS Programme Department, currently led by Mr Asif N. Khan is an integral component of the Bombay Natural History Society (BNHS), focuses on education, research, and outreach initiatives.

==See also==
* [[:Category:Nature conservation in India|Category:Nature conservation in India]]
* [[Conservation Education Centre]] of the BNHS

==References==
{{Reflist}}

== Further reading ==

* {{cite journal|last=Ali|first=Salim|author-link=Salim Ali|year=1978|title=Bombay Natural History Society — The Founders, the Builders and the Guardians. Part 1|journal=Journal of the Bombay Natural History Society|volume=75|issue=3|pages=559–569|url=https://archive.org/stream/journalofbomba751978bomb#page/n16/mode/1up}}
* {{cite journal|last=Ali|first=Salim|author-link=Salim Ali|year=1981|title=Bombay Natural History Society — The Founders, the Builders and the Guardians. Part 2|journal=Journal of the Bombay Natural History Society|volume=78|issue=2|pages=232–239|url=https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/page/48228752}}

==External links==
* [https://www.bnhs.org/ Official website]
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20130514151247/http://www.bnhs.org/education-mainmenu/about-us.html Conservation Education Centre – Education wing of the BNHS]
*Mehta, Sarika. (18 March 2005). [http://www.thehindubusinessline.com/life/2005/03/18/stories/2005031800140400.htm Wild enthusiasm]. The Hindu Business Line.

{{Conservation organisations}}
{{Authority control}}

[[Category:Natural history societies]]
[[Category:Clubs and societies in India]]
[[Category:Organisations based in Mumbai]]
[[Category:Animal charities based in India]]
[[Category:Bird conservation organizations]]
[[Category:BirdLife partners]]
[[Category:Nature conservation organisations based in India]]
[[Category:Natural history of India]]
[[Category:Scientific organizations established in 1883]]
[[Category:1883 establishments in British India]]
[[Category:Environmental studies institutions in India]]

Bombay Natural History Society - Revision history

StephanieCrowthe at 16:14, 24 July 2025