Ajay Desai

Ajay Adrushyappa Desai, also known as Elephant Man, (24 July 1957 – 20 November 2020) was an Indian Field Biologist-conservationist and researcher specializing in behavior of wild elephants with a focus on wildlife conflicts with human settlement.

Early life Desai's family was from Konnur, Bagalkot district, in Karnataka, and had settled in Belgaum. He completed his schooling in Belgaum and went on to complete his post graduate studies in Marine biology from Karnatak University.

Career Desai started his career with the Bombay Natural History Society from 1982 as a researcher and went on to spend many years focusing on studying elephant herding and track formation across the Indian reserves of Mudumalai and Sri Lanka. Desai, radio-tracking an elephant in Hassan district, Karnataka, 2014. His study built on radio tagging of elephants to track movements The Supreme Court of India and the Chief Justice of India had also recommended his name for a committee to study the impacts of coal mining on the ecosystem near mining sites, in a court challenge by the Jharkhand state government against the central government's auction of coal blocks in the state, in 2020.

He had earlier been a part of the Srisailam Tiger Reserve Committee in 2009, and also a member of the Nagarhole Tiger Reserve Committee focusing on relocation of wildlife between Nagarhole in Karnataka, and Mudumalai in Tamil Nadu. His focus was on studying animal behavior with an emphasis on studying wildlife conflict with human settlements.

Personal life Desai was married and had two children. He died on 20 November 2020, of cardiac arrest, at his home in Belgaum, in Karnataka. He was 63.

Publications