Priya Davidar

Priya Davidar is an Indian scientific researcher, conservation biologist, scholar, and author. She has authored a few books, including Whispers from the Wild, co-authored with E. R. C. Davidar and published by Penguin India books. She was elected Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science in 2012. She is actively involved with the conservation of forests and wildlife.

Davidar's father is a conservationist E.R.C. Davidar and brother Mark Davidar is one of the founders of the Sigur Nature Trust (SNT), in Masinagudi, Tamil Nadu, India which is a 30-acre [CONVERT] wildlife reserve.

She married Jean-Philippe Puyravaud who is a research scientist trained in remote sensing. They have collaborated on many research papers.

For her doctoral thesis, she worked on pollination of the hemi-parasitic mistletoes by nectar feeding birds, under the guidance of the naturalist, Salim Ali, who is known as the "bird man of India".

She worked for close to three decades in Pondicherry University at the Department of Ecology and Environmental Sciences until she retired. She also added, "My advice to researchers from disadvantaged backgrounds unwelcome in upper-caste networks is to find collaborators who are supportive to buffer the harshness. Being persistent and carrying on despite difficulties is important. What I found is, time is an important ally that leads to eventual success."

In 2012, she was elected Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS).