Wildwatch - Biography - Kartikeya Singh Chauhan

Name: Kartikeya Singh Chauhan

Country: India

Profile:

Kartikey's love for nature and wildlife took its roots in the early years of his life when he used to visit his erstwhile feudal village nestled in a rural part of the state of western Madhya Pradesh, in India. While pursuing his undergraduate studies in Mathematics he realized the importance of conserving our natural heritage and decided to dedicate his life for the same. He holds a Master's degree in Ecology and Environment and has eight years of research experience working with Wildlife Institute India, which is, an autonomous institution of Ministry of Environment and Forest, Government of India. He has studied the ecology of Indian wolves for more than six years. His research on wolves was featured in a documentary for a coveted TV series called The Natural World, BBC II. After having finished his research on wolves, Kartikeya ensued research on the Asiatic Lions. His research involved individual identification of lions based on their whisker patterns and the interaction with the local communities in Gir National Park, which houses the last surviving population of Asiatic Lions in the world. He is a canid trapper and has his expertise in catching, anesthetizing and radio collaring several carnivores like wolves, hyenas, lions, jackals, foxes, wild dogs etc; Kartikeya also has credits as additional photographer on a couple of documentaries viz The Desert Wolves of India produced by BBC and The Global Wolf produced by Parthenon Entertainment Pvt. Ltd., Hamburg Germany. He has also assisted BBC cameraman in the making of "The Grasslands", episode of the coveted series by BBC called "The Planet Earth".

Currently Kartikeya is the head naturalist at Mahua Kothi, Bandhavgarh National Park. He joined Taj Safaris. in June 2006. He has gone through a fourteen week intensive training program conducted by Taj Safaris and has been trained as a professional naturalist by the head trainer of Conservation Corporation of Africa. He is also trained in First Aid by The Wilderness Medicine Institute of The National Outdoor Leadership School (NOLS), WY, USA.

Kartikeya firmly believes in judicious use of our natural resources and feels that unless each and every stakeholder living in and around these natural resources gets benefited, neither can we preach for conserving it nor we will be able to justify its existence.