Salim Ali (ornithologist)

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Salim Ali (1896 - 1987)
Salim Ali (1896 - 1987)

Sálim Ali, born Sálim Moizuddin Abdul Ali, (November 12, 1896 - July 27, 1987), was an Indian ornithologist and naturalist. Known as the "Birdman of India", Salim Ali was among the first Indians to conduct systematic bird surveys in India and his books have contributed enormously to the development of professional and amateur ornithology in India.

Contents

[edit] Early life

Yellow-throated Sparrow
Yellow-throated Sparrow

Salim Ali was born into a Sulaimani Mustali Ismaili (Sulaimani Bohra) Muslim family of Bombay, the tenth and youngest child. He was orphaned at the age of ten, and brought up by his maternal uncle, Amiruddin Tyabji, and childless aunt, Hamida Begum, in a middle-class household in Khetwadi, Mumbai. Another uncle was Abbas Tyabji, well known Indian freedom fighter. Salim Ali was introduced to the serious study of birds by W. S. Millard, secretary of the Bombay Natural History Society (BNHS) who helped him identify an unusually coloured sparrow that he had shot for sport. Millard identified it as a Yellow-throated Sparrow, and showed him around the Society's collection of stuffed birds. This was a key event in his life and led to Salim's pursuit of a career in ornithology, an unusual career choice in those days. Salim Ali's cousin Humayun Abdulali also became an ornithologist.

[edit] Burma and Germany

Salim Ali's early education was at St. Xavier's College, Mumbai. Following a difficult first year in college, he dropped out and went to Tavoy, Burma to look after the family Wolfram (Tungsten) mining and timber interests there. The forests surrounding this area provided an opportunity for Ali to hone his naturalist (and hunting) skills. On his return to India in 1917, he resumed his education, graduating with a Bachelor of Arts (Honors) degree in Zoology. He married a distant relation, Tehmina in 1918.

Ali failed to get an ornithologist's position at the Zoological Survey of India due to lack of sufficient academic qualifications. He however decided to study further after he was hired as guide lecturer in 1926 at the newly opened natural history section in the Prince of Wales Museum in Mumbai. He went on study leave in 1928 to Germany, where he trained under Professor Erwin Stresemann at the Zoological Museum of Berlin University.

[edit] Ornithology

On his return to India in 1930, he discovered that the guide lecturer position had been eliminated due to lack of funds. Unable to find a suitable job, Salim Ali and Tehmina moved to Kihim, a coastal village near Mumbai, where he began making his first observations of the Baya Weaver. The publication of his findings on the bird in 1930 brought him recognition in the field of ornithology.

Ali undertook systematic bird surveys of the princely states, Hyderabad, Cochin, Travancore, Gwalior, Indore and Bhopal, under the sponsorship of the rulers of those states. He was aided in his surveys by advice from Hugh Whistler. Salim wrote "My chief interest in bird study has always been its ecology, its life history under natural conditions and not in a laboratory under a microscope. By travelling to these remote, uninhabited places, I could study the birds as they lived and behaved in their habitats."

Hugh Whistler also introduced Salim to Richard Meinertzhagen and the two made an expedition into Afghanistan. Although Meinertzhagen had very critical views of him, they continued to remain good friends. Salim Ali found nothing amiss in Meinertzhagen's bird works but later studies have shown many of his studies to be fraudulent. Meinertzhagen later made his diary entries available to Salim and reproduced in his autobiographical Fall of a Sparrow.

30.4.1937 'I am disappointed in Salim. He is quite useless at anything but collecting. He cannot skin a bird, nor cook, nor do anything connected with camp life, packing up or chopping wood. He writes interminable notes about something-perhaps me... Even collecting he never does on his own initiative...

20.5.1937 'Salim is the personification of the educated Indian and interests me a great deal. He is excellent at his own theoretical subjects, but has no practical ability, and at everyday little problems is hopelessly inefficient... His views are astounding. He is prepared to turn the British out of India tomorrow and govern the country himself. I have repeatedly told him that the British Government have no intention of handing over millions of uneducated Indians to the mercy of such men as Salim:...

Ali rediscovered a rare weaver-bird species, Finn's Baya in the Kumaon Terai region, but was unsuccessful in his expedition to find the Mountain Quail (Ophrysia superciliosa).

He was accompanied and supported on his early ornithological surveys by his wife, Tehmina, and he was shattered when she died in 1939 following a minor surgery. After Tehmina's death, Salim Ali was looked after by his sister and brother-in-law.

Label for a specimen collected by Salim Ali during his Mysore State survey
Label for a specimen collected by Salim Ali during his Mysore State survey

The following quote from his autobiography clarifies his stand on hunting vs collection for scientific study:

it is true that I despise purposeless killing, and regard it as an act of vandalism, deserving the severest condemnation. But my love for birds is not of the sentimental variety. It is essentially aesthetic and scientific, and in some cases may even be pragmatic. For a scientific approach to bird study, it is often necessary to sacrifice a few, ... (and) I have no doubt that but for the methodical collecting of specimens in my earlier years - several thousands, alas - it would have been impossible to advance our taxonomical knowledge of Indian birds ... nor indeed of their geographic distribution, ecology, and bionomics.

Ali lacked interest in bird systematics and taxonomy.[1] Ernst Mayr wrote to Ripley about Ali's practice of failing to collect sufficient bird specimens suggesting that "as far as collecting is concerned I don't think he ever understood the necessity for collecting series. Maybe you can convince him of that."[1]

Ali himself wrote to Ripley complaining about bird taxonomy:

My head reels at all these nomenclatural metaphysics! I feel strongly like retiring from ornithology, if this is the stuff, and spending the rest of my days in the peace of the wilderness with birds, and away from the dust and frenzy of taxonomical warfare. I somehow feel complete detachment from all this, and am thoroughly unmoved by what name one ornithologist chooses to dub a bird that is familiar to me, and care even less in regard to one that is unfamiliar ----- The more I see of these subspecific tangles and inanities, the more I can understand the people who silently raise their eyebrows and put a finger to their temples when they contemplate the modem ornithologist in action.

—Ali to Ripley, 5 January 1956[2]

[edit] Other contributions

Salim Ali was very influential in ensuring the survival of the BNHS and managed to save the 200-year old institution by writing to the then Prime Minister Pandit Nehru for financial help.

Dr. Ali's influence helped save the Bharatpur Bird Sanctuary and the Silent Valley National Park. In 1990, the Salim Ali Centre for Ornithology & Natural History (SACON) was established at Anaikatty, Coimbatore, aided by the Ministry of Environment and Forests (MoEF), Government of India.

He took an interest in bird photography along with his friend Loke Wan Tho.

[edit] Awards

Although recognition came late, he received numerous awards, some of which are

He was elected Fellow of the Indian National Science Academy in 1958. He also received three honorary doctorates and was nominated to the Rajya Sabha in 1985.

Dr. Salim Ali died in 1987 at the age of 91 after a prolonged battle with prostate cancer.

World Wildlife Fund: Getty Wildlife Conservation Prize Citation
The International Jury for the J. Paul Getty Wildlife Conservation Prize of the World Wildlife Fund has selected for 1975
Salim A. Ali
Creator of an environment for conservation in India, your work over fifty years in acquainting Indians with the natural riches of the subcontinent has been instrumental in the promotion of protection, the setting up of parks and reserves, and indeed the awakening of conscience in all circles from the government to the simplest village Panchayat. Since the writing of your book, the Book of Indian Birds which in its way was the seminal natural history volume for everyone in India, your name has been the single one known throughout the length and breadth of your own country, Pakistan, and Bangladesh as the father of conservation and the fount of knowledge on birds. Your message has gone high and low across the land and we are sure that weaver birds weave your initials in their nests, and swifts perform parabolas in the sky in your honor.
For your lifelong dedication to the preservation of bird life in the Indian subcontinent and your identification with the Bombay Natural History Society as a force for education, the World Wildlife Fund takes delight in presenting you with the second J. Paul Getty Wildlife Conservation Prize. February 19, 1976.

[edit] Writing

Salim Ali wrote a number of popular and academic books, many of which continue to be standard references for the study of birds in the Indian subcontinent. He is the author of

Volume 1 Divers to Hawks
Volume 2 Megapodes to Crab Plover
Volume 3 Stone Curlews to Owls
Volume 4 Frogmouths to Pittas
Volume 5 Larks to Grey Hypocolius
Volume 6 Cuckoo-Shrikes to Babaxes
Volume 7 Laughing Thrushes to the Mangrove Whistler
Volume 8 Warblers to Redstarts
Volume 9 Robins to Wagtails
Volume 10 Flowerpeckers to Buntings
  • Fall of a Sparrow, (Autobiography) (1985)
  • The Book of Indian Birds, Bombay: BNHS (1941), ISBN 0-19-566523-6
  • Common Birds with Laeeq Futehally. with Laeeq Futehally, New Delhi: National Book Trust(NBT) (1967)
  • A Pictorial Guide to the Birds of the Indian Subcontinent with Dillon Ripley, Bombay: OUP (1983)
  • Common Indian Birds, A Picture Album New Delhi: NBT (1968)
  • Hamare Parichat Pakshee with Laeeq Futehally (Hindi). New Delhi: NBT (1969)
  • Handbook of the Birds of India & Pakistan (compact edition) with Ripley, D., Bombay: OUP (1987)
  • The Book of Indian Birds (12th and enlarged centenary ed.) New Delhi: BNHS & OUP (1996)
  • Bird Study in India: Its History and its Importance New Delhi: ICCR (1979)
  • The Great Indian Bustard (Vols.1-2). with Rahmani, A. Bombay: BNHS (1982-89)

[edit] Regional Guides

  • Birds of Bhutan with Biswas, B. & Ripley, D., Calcutta: Zoological Survey of India (1996)
  • The Birds of Bombay and Salsette with H. Abdulali, Bombay: Prince of Wales Museum (1941)
  • The Birds of Kutch, London: OUP (1945)
  • Indian Hill Birds Bombay: OUP (1949)
  • The Birds of Travancore and Cochin Bombay: OUP (1953)
  • The Birds of Gujarat Bombay: Gujarat Research Society (1956)
  • A Picture Book of Sikkim Birds Gangtok: Government of Sikkim (1960)
  • The Birds of Sikkim Delhi: OUP (1962)
  • Birds of Kerala Madras: OUP (1969)
  • Field Guide to the Birds of the Eastern Himalayas Bombay: OUP (1977)
  • The Vernay Scientific Survey of the Eastern Ghat; Ornithological Section—Together with The Hyderabad State Ornithological Survey 1930-38 with Hugh Whistler, Norman Boyd Kinnear (undated)

[edit] Technical Studies and Reports

  • Studies on the Movement and Population of Indian Avifauna Annual Reports I-4. with Hussain, S.A., Bombay: BNHS (1980-86)
  • Ecological Reconnaissance of Vedaranyam Swamp, Thanjavur District, Tamil Nadu Bombay: BNHS (1980)
  • Harike Lake Avifauna Project (co-author) Bombay: BNHS (1981)
  • Ecological Study of Bird Hazard at Indian Aerodromes (Vols. I & 2). with Grubh, R. Bombay: BNHS (1981-89)
  • Potential Problem Birds at Indian Aerodromes with Grubh, R. Bombay: BNHS
  • The Lesser Florican in Sailana with Rahmani et al. Bombay: BNHS (1984)
  • Strategy for Conservation of Bustards in Maharashtra (co-author) Bombay: BNHS (1984)
  • The Great Indian Bustard in Gujarat (co-author) Bombay: BNHS (1985)
  • Keoladeo National Park Ecology Study with Vijayan, S., Bombay: BNHS (1986)
  • A.Study of Ecology of Some Endangered Species of Wildlife and Their Habitat. The Floricans with Daniel J.C. & Rahmani, Bombay: BNHS (1986)
  • Status and Ecology of the Lesser and Bengal Floricans with Reports on Jerdon’s Courser and Mountain Quail Bombay: BNHS (1990)

[edit] Trivia

  • In his school days, the only award he won was for good conduct, and the prize was a book, Our Animal Friends.
  • Salim Ali wanted the Great Indian Bustard to be declared the National Bird of India. The Lok Sabha however, chose the Peacock.
  • Salim Ali's fruit bat (Latidens salimalii), named after him in 1972 by the discoverer Kitti Thonglongya, is one of the world's rarest bats, and the only species in the genus Latidens.
  • The Mysore Rock Bush Quail (Perdicula argoondah salimalii) and the Eastern Race of the Finn's Baya Weaver (Ploceus megarhynchus salimalii) were named, by Whistler and Abdulali respectively, in Salim Ali's honour.
  • The Black-rumped Flameback Woodpecker, first collected in Kerala by Salim Ali, is named after his wife, Tehmina (Dinopium benghalense tehminae).
  • He was mentioned as himself in Anita Desai's best selling novel "Village by the Sea".

[edit] References

  1. ^ a b Lewis, M. L. (2003) Inventing global ecology: Tracking the Biodiversity Ideal in India, 1945-1997. Orient Longman. ISBN 8125023771 pp. 66-67
  2. ^ Ripley Papers. Accession 92-063, Box 1. Quoted in Lewis (2003)

[edit] External links