Salim Ali (1896 - 1987)

Sálim Ali, born Sálim Moizuddin Abdul Ali, (November 12, 1896 - July 27, 1987), was an Indian ornithologist and naturalist. Known as the "Birdman of India", Salim Ali was among the first Indians to conduct systematic bird surveys in India and his books have contributed enormously to the development of professional and amateur ornithology in India. is the 316th day of the year (317th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 1896 (MDCCCXCVI) was a leap year starting on Wednesday (link will display calendar). ... is the 208th day of the year (209th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 1987 (MCMLXXXVII) was a common year starting on Thursday (link displays 1987 Gregorian calendar). ... Ornithology (from the Greek ornitha = chicken and logos = word/science) is the branch of biology concerned with the scientific study of birds. ... Table of natural history, 1728 Cyclopaedia Natural history is an umbrella term for what are now often viewed as several distinct scientific disciplines of integrative organismal biology. ... This article is about the field of zoology. ...

Early life

Yellow-throated Sparrow

Salim Ali was born into a Sulaimani Mustali Ismaili (Sulaimani Bohra) Muslim family of Bombay, the tenth and youngest child. He was orphaned at the age of ten, and brought up by his maternal uncle, Amiruddin Tyabji, and childless aunt, Hamida Begum, in a middle-class household in Khetwadi, Mumbai. Another uncle was Abbas Tyabji, well known Indian freedom fighter. Salim Ali was introduced to the serious study of birds by W. S. Millard, secretary of the Bombay Natural History Society (BNHS) who helped him identify an unusually coloured sparrow that he had shot for sport. Millard identified it as a Yellow-throated Sparrow, and showed him around the Society's collection of stuffed birds. This was a key event in his life and led to Salim's pursuit of a career in ornithology, an unusual career choice in those days. Salim Ali's cousin Humayun Abdulali also became an ornithologist. Sulaimani Bohra are a subsect of Ismaili Mustaali. ... Abbas Tyabji was an Indian freedom fighter from Gujarat, who was a key ally and supporter of Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel during the 1918 Kheda Satyagraha, and the 1928 Bardoli Satyagraha. ... Walter Samuel Millard (1864-1952), driving force behind Bombay Natural History Societys Mammal Survey of the Indian subcontinent. ... The Bombay Natural History Society is the largest organisation engaged in conservation research in the Indian subcontinent. ... Binomial name Petronia xanthocollis (Burton, 1838) The Chestnut-shouldered Petronia or Yellow-throated Sparrow (Petronia xanthocollis) is a species of sparrow-like bird found in South Asia. ... The King Abdulali (1914 – 2001) was an Indian ornithologist, and a cousin of Salim Ali. ...

Burma and Germany

Salim Ali's early education was at St. Xavier's College, Mumbai. Following a difficult first year in college, he dropped out and went to Tavoy, Burma to look after the family Wolfram (Tungsten) mining and timber interests there. The forests surrounding this area provided an opportunity for Ali to hone his naturalist (and hunting) skills. On his return to India in 1917, he resumed his education, graduating with a Bachelor of Arts (Honors) degree in Zoology. He married a distant relation, Tehmina in 1918. St. ... Dawei (formerly known as Tavoy), southeastern Myanmar, capital of Tanintharyi Division, is a port at the head of the Dawei River estuary, 30 m. ...

Ali failed to get an ornithologist's position at the Zoological Survey of India due to lack of sufficient academic qualifications. He however decided to study further after he was hired as guide lecturer in 1926 at the newly opened natural history section in the Prince of Wales Museum in Mumbai. He went on study leave in 1928 to Germany, where he trained under Professor Erwin Stresemann at the Zoological Museum of Berlin University. The Zoological Survey of India (ZSI) was established on 1st July, 1916 to promote the survey, exploration and research of the fauna in the region. ... The Prince of Wales Museum (now renamed Chatrapati Shivaji Museum), Bombay, India, was set up in the early years of the 20th century by some prominent citizens of Bombay with the help of the government, to commemorate the visit of the Prince of Wales, the future King Edward VII of... Erwin Stresemann (November 22, 1889 - November 20, 1972) was a German ornithologist. ...

Ornithology

On his return to India in 1930, he discovered that the guide lecturer position had been eliminated due to lack of funds. Unable to find a suitable job, Salim Ali and Tehmina moved to Kihim, a coastal village near Mumbai, where he began making his first observations of the Baya Weaver. The publication of his findings on the bird in 1930 brought him recognition in the field of ornithology. Binomial name Ploceus philippinus (Linnaeus, 1766 ) The Baya Weaver (Ploceus philippinus) is a weaver found in South and South-east Asia. ...

Ali undertook systematic bird surveys of the princely states, Hyderabad, Cochin, Travancore, Gwalior, Indore and Bhopal, under the sponsorship of the rulers of those states. He was aided in his surveys by advice from Hugh Whistler. Salim wrote "My chief interest in bird study has always been its ecology, its life history under natural conditions and not in a laboratory under a microscope. By travelling to these remote, uninhabited places, I could study the birds as they lived and behaved in their habitats." A princely state or native state was a feudal monarchy in British India ruled by a hereditary ruler, who was nominally sovereign. ... Hugh Whistler (1889 - July 7, 1943), F.Z.S., M.B.O.U. was an English ornithologist. ...

Hugh Whistler also introduced Salim to Richard Meinertzhagen and the two made an expedition into Afghanistan. Although Meinertzhagen had very critical views of him, they continued to remain good friends. Salim Ali found nothing amiss in Meinertzhagen's bird works but later studies have shown many of his studies to be fraudulent. Meinertzhagen later made his diary entries available to Salim and reproduced in his autobiographical Fall of a Sparrow. Richard Henry Meinertzhagen (March 3, 1878 - June 17, 1967) was a British soldier and intelligence officer with an interest in birds, bird lice and Zionism. ...

30.4.1937 'I am disappointed in Salim. He is quite useless at anything but collecting. He cannot skin a bird, nor cook, nor do anything connected with camp life, packing up or chopping wood. He writes interminable notes about something-perhaps me... Even collecting he never does on his own initiative...

20.5.1937 'Salim is the personification of the educated Indian and interests me a great deal. He is excellent at his own theoretical subjects, but has no practical ability, and at everyday little problems is hopelessly inefficient... His views are astounding. He is prepared to turn the British out of India tomorrow and govern the country himself. I have repeatedly told him that the British Government have no intention of handing over millions of uneducated Indians to the mercy of such men as Salim:...

Ali rediscovered a rare weaver-bird species, Finn's Baya in the Kumaon Terai region, but was unsuccessful in his expedition to find the Mountain Quail (Ophrysia superciliosa). Binomial name Ploceus megarhynchus (Hume, 1869) Finns Weaver or Finns Baya (Ploceus megarhynchus) is a species of weaver bird found in the Ganges and Brahmaputra valleys in India and Nepal. ... Kumaon may refer to: Kumaon (or Kumaun) is one of the two regions and administrative divisions of Uttarakhand, a mountainous state of northern India, the other being Garhwal. ... The Terai, or Tarai (i. ... Binomial name Ophrysia superciliosa (Gray,JE, 1846) The Himalayan Quail, Ophrysia superciliosa, is from the pheasant family Phasianidae of the order Galliformes, gallinaceous birds. ...

He was accompanied and supported on his early ornithological surveys by his wife, Tehmina, and he was shattered when she died in 1939 following a minor surgery. After Tehmina's death, Salim Ali was looked after by his sister and brother-in-law. Year 1939 (MCMXXXIX) was a common year starting on Sunday (link will display the full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar. ...

The following quote from his autobiography clarifies his stand on hunting vs collection for scientific study:

it is true that I despise purposeless killing, and regard it as an act of vandalism, deserving the severest condemnation. But my love for birds is not of the sentimental variety. It is essentially aesthetic and scientific, and in some cases may even be pragmatic. For a scientific approach to bird study, it is often necessary to sacrifice a few, ... (and) I have no doubt that but for the methodical collecting of specimens in my earlier years - several thousands, alas - it would have been impossible to advance our taxonomical knowledge of Indian birds ... nor indeed of their geographic distribution, ecology, and bionomics.

Ali lacked interest in bird systematics and taxonomy.^[1] Ernst Mayr wrote to Ripley about Ali's practice of failing to collect sufficient bird specimens suggesting that "as far as collecting is concerned I don't think he ever understood the necessity for collecting series. Maybe you can convince him of that."^[1]

Ali himself wrote to Ripley complaining about bird taxonomy:

My head reels at all these nomenclatural metaphysics! I feel strongly like retiring from ornithology, if this is the stuff, and spending the rest of my days in the peace of the wilderness with birds, and away from the dust and frenzy of taxonomical warfare. I somehow feel complete detachment from all this, and am thoroughly unmoved by what name one ornithologist chooses to dub a bird that is familiar to me, and care even less in regard to one that is unfamiliar ----- The more I see of these subspecific tangles and inanities, the more I can understand the people who silently raise their eyebrows and put a finger to their temples when they contemplate the modem ornithologist in action.

—Ali to Ripley, 5 January 1956^[2]

Other contributions

Salim Ali was very influential in ensuring the survival of the BNHS and managed to save the 200-year old institution by writing to the then Prime Minister Pandit Nehru for financial help. The Bombay Natural History Society is the largest organisation engaged in conservation research in the Indian subcontinent. ... Jawaharlal Nehru (जवाहरलाल नेहरू) (November 14, 1889 - May 27, 1964), also called Pandit (Teacher) Nehru, was the leader of the (moderately) socialist wing of the Indian National Congress during and after Indias struggle for independence from the British Empire. ...

Dr. Ali's influence helped save the Bharatpur Bird Sanctuary and the Silent Valley National Park. In 1990, the Salim Ali Centre for Ornithology & Natural History (SACON) was established at Anaikatty, Coimbatore, aided by the Ministry of Environment and Forests (MoEF), Government of India. The Keoladeo National Park in Rajasthan, India is a famous avifauna sanctuary that sees (or saw) thousands of rare and highly endangered birds such as the Siberian Crane come here during the winter season. ... Silent Valley National Park is a National Park in Palakkad district, Kerala, India. ... , Coimbatore (Tamil: ), also known as Kovai (Tamil: ), is a major industrial city in India and the second largest city in the state of Tamil Nadu. ... The Government of India (Hindi: भारत सरकार [1]Bhārat Sarkār), officially referred to as the Union Government, and commonly as Central Government, was established by the Constitution of India, and is the governing authority of a federal union of 28 states and 7 union territories, collectively called the Republic of...

He took an interest in bird photography along with his friend Loke Wan Tho. Loke Wan Tho 陆运涛 (1915–1964) born in Singapore, was a cinema magnate, ornithologist, and photographer. ...

Awards

Although recognition came late, he received numerous awards, some of which are

• Padma Bhushan (1958)
• Union Medal of the British Ornithologists' Union, a rarity for non-British citizens (1967)
• The John C. Phillips Medal for Distinguished Service in International Conservation, from the World Conservation Union (1969)
• Padma Vibhushan (1976)
• J. Paul Getty Wildlife Conservation Prize of the World Wildlife Fund (1976)
• Commander of the Netherlands Order of the Golden Ark (1986)

He was elected Fellow of the Indian National Science Academy in 1958. He also received three honorary doctorates and was nominated to the Rajya Sabha in 1985. The Padma Bhushan is an Indian civilian decoration established on January 2, 1954 by the President of India. ... The British Ornithologists Union (BOU) aims to encourage the study of birds (ornithology) in Britain, Europe and throughout the world, in order to understand their biology and to aid their conservation. ... The World Conservation Union or International Union for the Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources (IUCN) is an international organization dedicated to natural resource conservation. ... This article or section does not cite its references or sources. ... The Most Excellent Order of the Golden Ark was established by Prince Bernhard of the Netherlands in 1971 as an official order of the government of the Netherlands. ... An Honorary degree (Latin: honoris causa ad gradum) is a degree awarded to someone by an institution that he or she may have never attended, it may be a bachelors, masters or doctorate degree - however, the latter is most common. ... Executive President Vice-President Prime Minister Dy. ... This article is about the year. ...

Dr. Salim Ali died in 1987 at the age of 91 after a prolonged battle with prostate cancer.
HRPC redirects here. ...

The International Jury for the J. Paul Getty Wildlife Conservation Prize of the World Wildlife Fund has selected for 1975

Salim A. Ali

Creator of an environment for conservation in India, your work over fifty years in acquainting Indians with the natural riches of the subcontinent has been instrumental in the promotion of protection, the setting up of parks and reserves, and indeed the awakening of conscience in all circles from the government to the simplest village Panchayat. Since the writing of your book, the Book of Indian Birds which in its way was the seminal natural history volume for everyone in India, your name has been the single one known throughout the length and breadth of your own country, Pakistan, and Bangladesh as the father of conservation and the fount of knowledge on birds. Your message has gone high and low across the land and we are sure that weaver birds weave your initials in their nests, and swifts perform parabolas in the sky in your honor.

For your lifelong dedication to the preservation of bird life in the Indian subcontinent and your identification with the Bombay Natural History Society as a force for education, the World Wildlife Fund takes delight in presenting you with the second J. Paul Getty Wildlife Conservation Prize. February 19, 1976.

Writing

Salim Ali wrote a number of popular and academic books, many of which continue to be standard references for the study of birds in the Indian subcontinent. He is the author of

• Handbook of the Birds of India & Pakistan (Vols. 1-10) with Sidney Dillon Ripley, Bombay: Oxford University Press(OUP) (1964-74)

Volume 1 Divers to Hawks

Volume 2 Megapodes to Crab Plover

Volume 3 Stone Curlews to Owls

Volume 4 Frogmouths to Pittas

Volume 5 Larks to Grey Hypocolius

Volume 6 Cuckoo-Shrikes to Babaxes

Volume 7 Laughing Thrushes to the Mangrove Whistler

Volume 8 Warblers to Redstarts

Volume 9 Robins to Wagtails

Volume 10 Flowerpeckers to Buntings

• Fall of a Sparrow, (Autobiography) (1985)
• The Book of Indian Birds, Bombay: BNHS (1941), ISBN 0-19-566523-6
• Common Birds with Laeeq Futehally. with Laeeq Futehally, New Delhi: National Book Trust(NBT) (1967)
• A Pictorial Guide to the Birds of the Indian Subcontinent with Dillon Ripley, Bombay: OUP (1983)
• Common Indian Birds, A Picture Album New Delhi: NBT (1968)
• Hamare Parichat Pakshee with Laeeq Futehally (Hindi). New Delhi: NBT (1969)
• Handbook of the Birds of India & Pakistan (compact edition) with Ripley, D., Bombay: OUP (1987)
• The Book of Indian Birds (12th and enlarged centenary ed.) New Delhi: BNHS & OUP (1996)
• Bird Study in India: Its History and its Importance New Delhi: ICCR (1979)
• The Great Indian Bustard (Vols.1-2). with Rahmani, A. Bombay: BNHS (1982-89)

Sidney Dillon Ripley (20 September 1913 - 12 March, 2001 ) was an ornithologist. ... Oxford University Press (OUP) is a highly-respected publishing house and a department of the University of Oxford in England. ... Hindi (DevanāgarÄ«: or , IAST: , IPA:  ), an Indo-European language spoken all over India in varying degrees and extensively in northern and central India, is one of the 22 official languages of India and is used, along with English, for central government administrative purposes. ...

Regional Guides

• Birds of Bhutan with Biswas, B. & Ripley, D., Calcutta: Zoological Survey of India (1996)
• The Birds of Bombay and Salsette with H. Abdulali, Bombay: Prince of Wales Museum (1941)
• The Birds of Kutch, London: OUP (1945)
• Indian Hill Birds Bombay: OUP (1949)
• The Birds of Travancore and Cochin Bombay: OUP (1953)
• The Birds of Gujarat Bombay: Gujarat Research Society (1956)
• A Picture Book of Sikkim Birds Gangtok: Government of Sikkim (1960)
• The Birds of Sikkim Delhi: OUP (1962)
• Birds of Kerala Madras: OUP (1969)
• Field Guide to the Birds of the Eastern Himalayas Bombay: OUP (1977)
• The Vernay Scientific Survey of the Eastern Ghat; Ornithological Section—Together with The Hyderabad State Ornithological Survey 1930-38 with Hugh Whistler, Norman Boyd Kinnear (undated)

Biswamoy Biswas (June 2, 1923 - August 10, 1994) was an Indian ornithologist. ... Sidney Dillon Ripley (20 September 1913 - 12 March, 2001 ) was an ornithologist. ... The Zoological Survey of India (ZSI) was established on 1st July, 1916 to promote the survey, exploration and research of the fauna in the region. ... The King Abdulali (1914 – 2001) was an Indian ornithologist, and a cousin of Salim Ali. ... Hugh Whistler (1889 - July 7, 1943), F.Z.S., M.B.O.U. was an English ornithologist. ... Sir Norman Boyd Kinnear (August 11, 1882 - August 11, 1957) was a Scottish zoologist. ...

Technical Studies and Reports

• Studies on the Movement and Population of Indian Avifauna Annual Reports I-4. with Hussain, S.A., Bombay: BNHS (1980-86)
• Ecological Reconnaissance of Vedaranyam Swamp, Thanjavur District, Tamil Nadu Bombay: BNHS (1980)
• Harike Lake Avifauna Project (co-author) Bombay: BNHS (1981)
• Ecological Study of Bird Hazard at Indian Aerodromes (Vols. I & 2). with Grubh, R. Bombay: BNHS (1981-89)
• Potential Problem Birds at Indian Aerodromes with Grubh, R. Bombay: BNHS
• The Lesser Florican in Sailana with Rahmani et al. Bombay: BNHS (1984)
• Strategy for Conservation of Bustards in Maharashtra (co-author) Bombay: BNHS (1984)
• The Great Indian Bustard in Gujarat (co-author) Bombay: BNHS (1985)
• Keoladeo National Park Ecology Study with Vijayan, S., Bombay: BNHS (1986)
• A.Study of Ecology of Some Endangered Species of Wildlife and Their Habitat. The Floricans with Daniel J.C. & Rahmani, Bombay: BNHS (1986)
• Status and Ecology of the Lesser and Bengal Floricans with Reports on Jerdon’s Courser and Mountain Quail Bombay: BNHS (1990)

Trivia

• In his school days, the only award he won was for good conduct, and the prize was a book, Our Animal Friends.
• Salim Ali wanted the Great Indian Bustard to be declared the National Bird of India. The Lok Sabha however, chose the Peacock.
• Salim Ali's fruit bat (Latidens salimalii), named after him in 1972 by the discoverer Kitti Thonglongya, is one of the world's rarest bats, and the only species in the genus Latidens.
• The Mysore Rock Bush Quail (Perdicula argoondah salimalii) and the Eastern Race of the Finn's Baya Weaver (Ploceus megarhynchus salimalii) were named, by Whistler and Abdulali respectively, in Salim Ali's honour.
• The Black-rumped Flameback Woodpecker, first collected in Kerala by Salim Ali, is named after his wife, Tehmina (Dinopium benghalense tehminae).
• He was mentioned as himself in Anita Desai's best selling novel "Village by the Sea".

Binomial name Ardeotis nigriceps (Vigors, 1831) The Great Indian Bustard (Ardeotis nigriceps) is a bustard found in India and possibly Pakistan. ... The Lok Sabhha (alternatively titled, the House of the People, by the Constitution of India) is the lower house in the Parliament of India. ... Peacock re-directs here; for alternate uses see Peacock (disambiguation). ... Binomial name Thonglongya, 1972 Salim Alis fruit bat (Latidens salimalii) is a rare megabat species in the monotypic genus Latidens. ... Binomial name Perdicula argoondah (Sykes, 1832) The Rock Bush Quail Perdicula argoondah is a species of quail found in parts of peninsular India. ... Binomial name Ploceus philippinus (Linnaeus, 1766 ) The Baya Weaver (Ploceus philippinus) is a weaver found in South and South-east Asia. ... Hugh Whistler (1889 - July 7, 1943), F.Z.S., M.B.O.U. was an English ornithologist. ... The King Abdulali (1914 – 2001) was an Indian ornithologist, and a cousin of Salim Ali. ...

References

1. ^ ^{a b} Lewis, M. L. (2003) Inventing global ecology: Tracking the Biodiversity Ideal in India, 1945-1997. Orient Longman. ISBN 8125023771 pp. 66-67
2. ^ Ripley Papers. Accession 92-063, Box 1. Quoted in Lewis (2003)

External links

• Salim Ali Centre for Ornithology and Natural History
• Bibliography of Indian birds, compiled by Bikram Grewal
• The Bombay Natural History Society
• Salim Ali Centre for Ornithology and Natural History
• On the Flight of Birds: an excerpt from Salim Ali's Book of Indian Birds