Running Away From Elephants : Adventures of a Wildlife Biologist

Beginning with his interactions with Dr Salim Ali, the legendary ornithologist—who was also his grand-uncle—wildlife biologist Rauf Ali takes the reader on a journey through India’s natural history and the beginning of ecological studies in India.

Rauf was one of the first Indians to complete a PhD in wildlife biology— he researched the social behaviour of bonnet macaques in the forests of Mundanthurai region in Tamil Nadu. In the late 1980s, he was instrumental in setting up one of India’s first Masters programmes in ecology, and later, as an ecologist, Rauf undertook the task of delineating Protected Areas in the Palani Hills of the Western Ghats. He was also among the first to conduct environmental research in the Andaman and Nicobar Islands, and in this book, he provides eye-opening information on the environmental damage caused by the introduction of chital and other species alien to the region.