Salim Moizuddin Abdul Ali He was a famous ornithologist of India. Due to his passion for birds and their conservation, he earned the nickname The Birdman of India. He was one of the first Indians to systematically conduct surveys on birds. Apart from being an ornithologist, he wrote several books which made ornithology very popular in India and abroad. Salim kept himself busy in the study of birds throughout his life, did many types of research and discovered many things about them. Due to his hard work and affinity towards nature, the Government of India honored him with many awards and titles.
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Biography/Wiki, Caste
Salim Ali was born on 12 November 1896 in Bombay (now, Mumbai), British India, into a Sulaimani Bohra family. He was the 9th and youngest child of his parents. His father died when he was just one year old and his mother died when he was three years old. Along with his siblings, Ali was raised by his maternal uncle Amiruddin Tyabji and childless aunt Hamida Begum. Since childhood, he was very interested in books and spent most of his time reading. She was enrolled in the primary school of Zenana Bible and Medical Mission Girls High School in Girgaon, Mumbai, Maharashtra along with her two sisters.
For his higher education he took admission in St. Xavier’s College, Mumbai. Initially, he was interested in books on hunting, however, on the advice of his uncle, he began to take an interest in sport-shooting as shooting competitions were held regularly in his neighborhood. Once he shot a sparrow with his toy air gun, he showed the sparrow to his uncle Amiruddin, who took the bird to the Bombay Natural History Society (BNHS), of which Amiruddin was a member. At BNHS, Salim was introduced to WS Millard, Secretary of BNHS. WS Millard inspired him to study ornithology.
Family
Ali was born to Moizuddin and Zeenat-un-Nisa. He had eight brothers and sisters. He was married to Tehmina in December 1918. Information about his children is not known.
livelihood
He left St. Xavier’s College and moved to Burma (now Myanmar) to take over his family’s wolfram (tungsten) mining. While he was in Burma, he became acquainted with Jesse Hopwood and Berthold Ribbentrop who were in the Burmese Forest Service.
Salim Ali in Burma
In 1917, he returned to India, and went to Dawar College in Mumbai and studied commercial law and accountancy. However, he was not interested in it and Father Ethelbert Blatter helped him a lot and encouraged him to study zoology. Eventually he completed a course in zoology.
Due to his lack of a formal university degree, Ali was not successful in obtaining the post of ornithologist in the Zoological Survey of India. However, in 1926, he was appointed as a guide lecturer in the newly opened Natural History Section of the Prince of Wales Museum in Mumbai at a salary of ₹350/month. Very soon, he became fed up with his job and in 1928, he moved to Germany to study more where he was apprenticed under the famous ornithologist and professor Erwin Stresemann, whom Ali considered his idol. When he returned to India in 1930, he again failed to find a job. Due to lack of employment, he shifted with his wife to Kihim, a coastal village near Mumbai where he became very close to birds, studied the reproduction of the Baya weaver and discovered their mating system of serial polygamy.
Ali greatly helped the survival of the Bombay Natural History Society (BNHS) and managed to save the 100-year-old institution. He wrote a letter to the then Prime Minister of India, Jawaharlal Nehru, asking for financial assistance for the BNHS. Ali was the first person to start systematic ornithological surveys at a time when no one was aware of the distribution patterns of birds in India. He helped save many sanctuaries and national parks across the country and some of them are Bharatpur Bird Sanctuary, Rajasthan and Silent Valley National Park, Kerala, India.
Awards/Honors
- 1958: Padma Bhushan and Honorary Doctorate from Aligarh Muslim University
Salim Ali was awarded the Padma Bhushan in 1958
- 1969: John C. Phillips Memorial Medal
- 1973: Doctorate degree from Delhi University and Pavlovsky Centenary Memorial Medal from the USSR Academy of Medical Sciences
- 1975: $100,000 award for conservation leadership. Paul Getty Award.
- 1978: Doctorate degree from Andhra University
famous books
- 1941: Book of Indian Birds
- 1964: Handbook of the Birds of India and Pakistan (co-written by American ornithologist, Dillon Ripley)
- 1967: Common Birds (co-authored by his niece Laika Foothalli)
- 1985: The Fall of a Sparrow (autobiography)
cause of death
Ali died at the age of 90 on June 20, 1987, after a long battle with prostate cancer.
fact
- In childhood, Ali was the companion of Iskander Mirza, who was his distant cousin. After the partition of India, Iskander Mirza became the first President of Pakistan.
- His second uncle was Abbas Tyabji who was a freedom fighter and associate of Mahatma Gandhi.
- When he was 13, he suffered from frequent headaches due to which he left his classes.
- Ali was very fond of riding motorcycles. He started biking in Myanmar with a 3.5 HP NSU. Later, he owned a Harley-Davidson (three models), a Sunbeam, a Scott, a New Hudson, a Douglas, and a Zenith.
- When his wife died in 1939, he became very sad. After being depressed for a few days, Ali was taken away by his brother-in-law.
- In the 1960s, when the Indian Parliament was considering the selection of the national bird of India, Ali wanted the Great Indian Bustard to be selected as the national bird, but the Indian peacock was chosen instead.
Great Indian Bustard
- In 1967, Ali became the first non-British citizen to receive the Gold Medal of the British Ornithologists’ Union.
- In 1985, in recognition of his contributions to ornithology, Indian President Zail Singh nominated him to the Rajya Sabha, the upper house of parliament.
- In 1990, the Government of India established the Salim Ali Center for Ornithology and Natural History (SACON) in his honour.
- The Government of India issued a postage stamp in his honor in 1996.
Salim Ali on postage stamp
- In 2018, Indian filmmaker S. Shankar directed the film 2.0 starring famous actors Akshay Kumar and Rajinikanth. In that film, Akshay Kumar played the character of Pakshi Rajan, who was inspired by Salim Ali.
Akshay Kumar in the role of Pakshi Rajan
Categories: Biography
Source: vcmp.edu.vn