K. Ullas Karanth is a renowned Indian wildlife conservation zoologist and also a leading tiger expert. He is based in the state of Karnataka, India. K. Ullas Karanth, a Ph.D, is the director of Wildlife Conservation Society India Programme. Dr. K. Ullas Karanth directs the effort of Wildlife Conservation Society towards the conservation of tiger and has successfully conducted nation-wide surveys for better estimation of the population of tigers and their habitat needs. K. Ullas Karanth has mainly worked in the Nagarahole Wildlife sanctuary, and his work highlights the significance of preserving prey populations for ensuring the survival species like tiger.
Early Life of K. Ullas Karanth
Dr. K. Ullas Karanth is the son of renowned Kannada writer, Kota Shivarama Karanth. He was inspired by the work of the naturalists trying to protect tigers in Asia. He studied engineering. Further, his biological observations of flora and fauna of the southern region encouraged him to examine preservation models for the Western Ghats that represent universal biodiversity hotspot. K. Ullas Karanth studied in US National Zoo"s Wildlife Conservation and Management Training Programme. He obtained his Master"s degree in Wildlife Ecology from University of Florida in the year 1988, and also earned a Doctorate in Applied Zoology from Mangalore University in the year 1993. He did his B. Tech in metallurgy from KREC (now NITK), Suratkal.
Professional Life of K. Ullas Karanth
Dr. K. Ullas Karanth is on the editorial board of journals Oryx and Journal of Applied Ecology. Moreover, he also serves the IUCN Species Survival Commission"s expert groups on cats, small carnivores, elephants and wild cattle. K. Ullas Karanth is also the Scientific Advisor to Wildlife First, which is a pro-active wildlife support group. K. Ullas Karanth is also a Technical Director of the WCS Tiger Conservation Programme and Senior Conservation Scientist with New York based Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS).
Contributions of K. Ullas Karanth
His longest single project is mainly about supervising of health of forests and diverseness in Karnataka"s Nagarahole Wildlife Sanctuary and National Park. Some of the results arising out of the project, on the status of tigers have also been published as scientific books and papers.
In the year 2007, K. Ullas Karanth won the J. Paul Getty Award for Conservation Leadership. Earlier winners of J. Paul Getty Award for Conservation Leadership include Salim Ali and Jane Goodall.
