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Dr K. Ullas Karanth

I was born in 1948, son of the well-known Indian writer Kota Shivarama Karanth. I initially graduated as a mechanical engineer at from the National Institute of Technology, Surathkal (1971), but changed my to pursue my deep passion for wildlife biology, graduating with a Master’s degree from the University of Florida, USA (1988) and a Doctorate from Mangalore University, India (1993). I was the founder director of Centre for Wildlife Studies (1984), where I am now Emeritus Director. From 1988 to 2017, I also directed the India Program of the Wildlife Conservation Society, New York. I also hold adjunct faculty positions at the Universities of Florida, and Minnesota both in the USA, Kasetsart University in Thailand, and TIFR-National Centre Biological Sciences in India.

I have conducted long-term research on the ecology of tigers, other predators and their prey species in India and Thailand. My areas of expertise include large carnivore ecology, animal population analysis, conservation biology and policy. I have published over 150 scientific papers in prestigious journals as well as numerous popular articles. I have authored/edited/co-edited several books/monographs in English: The Way of the Tiger (2001), Monitoring Tigers and their Prey (2002), A view from the Machan (2006), Tiger Tales (2007), Camera traps in Animal Ecology (2009), Science of Saving Tigers (2011), Recovering Biodiversity in Indian Forests (2016), Science and Conservation of Animal Populations (2017) Methods for Monitoring Tiger and Prey Populations (2017), Spatial Dynamics and Ecology of Large Ungulate Populations in Tropical Forests of India (2021). Growing up Karanth (2021) and, Among Tigers (2023). I have also authored /coauthored Kannada language books Aranya Mattu Samaja (1982), Kaadupranigala Jadinalli (2001), Huliya Baduku and Hulirayana Akashavaani (2007).

I serve on the World Conservation Union’s specialist groups on Cats, Bears, Elephants, Wild Cattle and Small Carnivores. I have served on Indian Government’s Forest Advisory Committee, National Tiger Conservation Authority, Wildlife Institute of India, Boards of WWF-India, and the Liz Claiborne and Art Ortenberg Foundation. I have been an active conservationist for five decades, and advise many conservation advocacy groups in India.

I have been recognized as a Distinguished Alumnus by St. Aloysius College, Mangalore (2017), National Institute of Technology, Surathkal (2010) and the University of Florida, USA (2022). In recognition of my contributions to wildlife conservation, I have received the Sierra Club’s EarthCare award (2006), WWF- J. Paul Getty award (2007), and, WCS-George Schaller Award (2018). I was elected a Fellow of the Indian Academy of Sciences (2008) and won Karnataka State Rajya Prashashti (2011) and India’s Presidential Honor Padma Shri (2012). My work has been extensively featured in international media.

I live in Bengaluru, India and am married to Prof. Prathibha Karanth, a Speech and Language scientist. My daughter Dr. Krithi Karanth is also a leading conservation scientist. An alumna of the Universities of Florida, Yale University, and Duke University, she now leads the Centre for Wildlife Studies.

Testimonials

Dr. George B. Schaller
Emeritus Scientist
Wildlife Conservation Society

Ullas Karanth is a superb field biologist focused on the tiger and its prey and the preservation of tiger habitats. He is generally considered the best tiger biologist in the world. Meticulous and visionary, he has changed how tigers and other large carnivores are counted and monitored by developing accurate techniques

Dr. Alison F. Richard
DBE
Vice-Chancellor Emerita, Cambridge University

Ullas Karanth’s commitment to continued survival of wild tiger populations is deep and long-standing. The scientific innovations he brought to bear have transformed our knowledge and understanding of wild tigers in India and the impact of his work extends across all tiger range countries.

Dr. Jeffrey D. Sachs
Professor
Columbia University

Among Tigers is a unique book by a unique author. Ullas Karanth has devoted his life to the understanding and protection of the endangered tigers of Asia. For all those who care about the humanities place in a safe world, this book is fascinating and important reading.

Dr. Stuart L. Pimm
Professor
Duke University and President, Saving Nature

Among tigers is a tale of high adventure..Ullas Karanth brings science to tiger conservation, confronts managers and politicians alike, and never forgets the needs of local people who must live with tigers.

Dr. John G. Robinson
Joan L. Tweedy Chair
Wildlife Conservation Society

Ullas Karanth is globally respected as both a scientist and a conservationist. He is today one of the most prolific communicators in conservation, both using the written word and a wonderful ability to lecture and inspire.

Dr. James D Nichols
Emeritus Scientist
US Geological Survey

Ullas Karanth’s work on tiger population and community ecology has provided answers to fundamental scientific questions in multiple disciplines. This work required development of new field methods, as well as new methods of analysis that represented important innovations in statistical science.

Dr. John Terborgh
Emeritus Professor
Duke University

First obsessed with tigers as a boy in southern India, Ullas Karanth made conserving them his career. Through years in the field tigers teach him how to advance their conservation.

Dr. David Western
Fromer Director of Kenya Wildlife Service
Author of We Alone

Ullas Karanth shows how sound science and a deep compassion for wildlife and people can win an enduring place for tigers in the face of the gravest political obstacles and modernizations.

Dr. Mel Sunquist
Emeritus Professor
University of Florida

A fifty-year personal journey from reluctant engineer to farmer, biologist and finally one of the world’s foremost tiger conservationist… Karanth’s singular, lucid account leaves us convinced there is hope for the tiger’s future.

Dr. Dale Miquelle
Coordinator
Tiger Program, Wildlife Conservation Society

Mincing no words, Karanth makes the case for science-based conservation of tigers and the need for hard, grind-it-out fieldwork, but also explain why science is not enough.

Dr. Ruth DeFries
Professor
Columbia University

Ullas Karanth, world-renowned tiger expert, lays bare the hardscrabble. From the science of tiger tracking to the dirty politics of corrupt bureaucrats. Based on his decades of fighting for tigers, his prescriptions for conservation stem from the reality on the ground.

David Quammen
Naturalist
Author of Gods Monsters

There is no creature more magnificent than the tiger, and there is no scientist who knows it better than Ullas Karanth. Despite all the factors piled against the tigers survival, his work will give you some hope.

Sy Montgomery
Naturalist
Author of Spell of the Tiger

Ullas Karanth is a tiger conservation hero, and his story is shocking, riveting and devastating but in the, hopeful…it is a splendid and important testament to what it takes to save this storied apex predator in a world swarming with humans and awash in greed and needs.

Douglas Chadwick
Wildlife Biologist
Author for Four-Fifths a Grizzly

Drawn to nature since childhood, Ullas Karanth became the first person in India to radio-track its fabled tigers. He continued to studying them for decades.