என்றென்றும் யானைகள்

by Raman Sukumar, டாக்டர் ஜீவானந்தம் (Translator ), எஸ். ஜெயராம் (Contributor )

இந்தியாவில் நவீன இயற்கை இயல் படிப்பை தனது பெரு முயற்சி வழியே முதல் முதலாக கொண்டு வந்த மாதவ் கட்கில் அவர்களின் வழிகாட்டலின்படி, யானைகள், மனிதர்கள் இடையேயான இணக்கத்தையும் மோதலையும் தனது ஆய்வுக்கு கருப்பொருளாக கொண்டபடி எண்பத்தி ஒன்றில், வயல்கள் பெருகிக்கொண்டிருக்கும், கிழக்குத்தொடர்ச்சி மலை சத்தியமங்கலம் வனப் பகுதிக்குள் ஒரு பாடாவதி ஜீப்பில் காட்டெருமை குறித்த ஆய்வாளரான தனது நண்பருடன் நுழைகிறார் ராமன் சுகுமார் .

பத்து ஆண்டுகள் ராமன் சுகுமார் அந்த வனத்தில் நிகழ்த்திய கள ஆய்வும், அனுபவங்களும் அடங்கிய நூலே என்றென்றும் யானைகள் எனும் இந்த ஆய்வு நூல். புராணம், வேதம் மதம் வழிபாடு வரலாறு துவங்கி இன்றைய சினிமாக்கள் வரை யானைகள் என்னவாக இருக்கிறது, ஒரு யானை பிறந்த குழந்தையாக இருந்து, அது மூத்து மண் மறையும் வரை என்னவாக இருக்கிறது, தென்னிந்தியா துவங்கி ஆசியா முழுமைக்கும், யானைகள் எண்ணிக்கை, அதன் நிலை என்னவாக இருக்கிறது என்பதெல்லாம் அவரது கள ஆய்வுகள், அனுபவங்களுடன் இணைந்து நான் லீனியர் முறையில் விவரிக்கப்படுகிறது.

Genres: Nonfiction

96 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published September 15, 1994

About the author

Raman Sukumar is an Indian ecologist best known for his work on the ecology of the Asian elephant and wildlife-human conflict. He also works on climate change, and tropical forest ecology. He was born in India in 1955. In 1986, Sukumar helped to design the Nilgiri Biosphere Reserve, the first of its kind in India. In 1997, he set up the Asian Nature Conservation Foundation, a public charitable trust that incorporates the Asian Elephant Research and Conservation Centre, an organization that has carried out several field projects in India and other Asian countries on elephants and their habitats. In 2006, he was awarded the International Cosmos Prize, Japan, the first Indian to receive this award. He was also commended by the Prime Minister of India for contributions to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) that shared the Nobel Peace Prize in 2007.

He received his Bachelor of Science degree from the University of Madras in 1977 and did a Masters in botany at the same university. He obtained a PhD from the Indian Institute of Science in 1985. He was a Fulbright Fellow at Princeton University in 1991 and was the Chair at the Centre for Ecological Sciences at the Indian Institute of Science for over eight years (2004–12). He continues to pursue conservation-based scientific research as a professor at this centre and is often called upon to represent Indian wildlife scientists in international, national and regional governmental committees.

Awards and fellowships
1991: Presidential Award of the Chicago Zoological Society, USA
1997: Order of the Golden Ark (The Netherlands)
2000: Fellow of the Indian Academy of Sciences
2003: Whitley Gold Award for International Nature Conservation UK
2004: T. N. Khoshoo Memorial Award for Conservation Science, Ashoka Trust for Research in Ecology and Environment, India
2005: Fellow of the Indian National Science Academy
2006: International Cosmos Prize, Japan
2006: Fellow, Geological Society of India
2013: Fellow, The World Academy of Sciences, Italy

Works
The Asian Elephant: Ecology and Management (1989, Cambridge Univ. Press)
Elephant Days and Nights: Ten years with the Indian Elephant (1994, Oxford Univ. Press)
The Living Elephants: Evolutionary Ecology, Behavior and Conservation (2003, Oxford Univ. Press)
The Story of Asia's Elephants (2011, Marg Publishers)

Reviews

[Vaidya · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of my fav reads. Very lucky to find this book, a used copy in a bookstore.

Details the author's study of elephants. Although it says 10 years, the content is predominantly of the first 3 years when he was researching them. After that he fast forwards to 1993. So much of what was there in 1983 changes with the arrival of Veerappan in the late 80s. It was also sad to see so much poaching going on in the forests. Only lucky thing is that Asian elephants lucked out with females not having tusks like their unfortunate African cousins.

[Pankaj Goyal · Rating 4 out of 5]

‘Elephant Days and Nights: Ten Years with the Indian Elephant’ by R. Sukumar is an authoritative resource of information on Asian elephants. While it is widely recognised that elephants are dwindling in number, their conservation has hitherto been motivated more by public sympathy for the plight of these magnificent animals than by scientifically designed conservation methods. In this book, Sukumar makes a cogent argument that the survival of this key-stone species can be assured by having a thorough understanding of its ecology, behaviour and the problems they currently face. This book is the result of author’s research on the life of the wild elephants in Southern India. The book presents a synthesis of scientific information on the Asian elephant, comprehensively examines the threats faced by the elephants, and proposes valuable conservation options.

Chapter 9 of this book looks back 4000 years when elephants were first tamed during the Harappan Civilization and develops the fascinating story of how elephants became an extricable part of the people in Indian subcontinent. This topic, according to me, could have been dealt in detail. Likewise some more pages should have been devoted on the perspectives of the origin of Ganesha (the elephant headed God) in India.

This book is essential reading for everyone interested in biodiversity conservation in India and, especially the fate of its fast disappearing elephants.

[Anisha Jayadevan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Through anecdotes and research findings, Raman Sukumar shares his early experiences and learning of elephants in South India, and the status of Asian elephants globally in the 1990s. Sukumar writes conversationally and with a lot of humour, making this a thoroughly enjoyable and informative read.