Pune-based ornithologist Pramod Patil has been conferred with the distinguished Whitley Award, which is well known as the ‘Green Oscar’ at a ceremony at the Royal Geographical Society in London. He has been awarded for his work on the conservation of the Great Indian Bustard. A total of 9 winners were honored at the award giving ceremony and each winner received a sum of £35,000 and a memento from the U.K.-based Whitley Fund for Nature (WFN).

Dr. Patil bagged the prize along with Dr Ananda Kumar, a wildlife scientist with the Nature Conservation Foundation (NCF), who has worked extensively in Valparai in Coimbatore (Tamilnadu) to facilitate human-animal coexistence.

In 2003 Dr .Patil quit his medical profession and devoted his life with full dedication for the conservation of the critically endangered Great Indian Bustard (Ardeotis nigriceps). Dr. Kumar was awarded for his project on ‘Elephant messengers: using innovative communication systems to enable human-elephant coexistence in Southern India.’

Tidbits

• Pramod Patil is the Scientist of The Bombay Natural History Society.
• The Whitley Awards were established in 1994 by Edward Whitley, when a single award of £15,000 was made.
• In 2007 eight awards were made, together with several runner-up and associate awards.

GK Questions

• The Great Indian Bustard is the official state bird of which Indian State? Rajasthan
• The Great Indian Bustard is commonly found in which countries? India and Pakistan.
• The extinct flightless Dodo bird was endemic to which part of the World? Mauritius