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Sanjayan's 'Wild Life'

Saving lions in Kenya? Finding new species in the Solomon Islands? Exploring one of the world's last great places in Montana? Nature Conservancy lead scientist Sanjayan leads a life of global adventure...and now you can track it in "Wild Life," his online column.

Wild LifeSanjayan at EROS. © courtesy of Sanjayan
January 2009: The View from Above

Satellites allow us to look at every corner of the planet — but can they help us be better conservationists?

Wild LifeMarch 2009. Lemon sharks (Negaprion brevirostris) at the ocean's surface in the Bahamas. The Conservancy is helping the Bahamian government achieve long-term protection of their national parks through The Caribbean Challenge--an unprecedented commitment by Caribbean governments to support and manage new and existing national parks and protected areas throughout the region. The goal for the participating governments is to protect at least 20 percent of their marine and coastal habitats by 2020. Photo credit: © Jeff Yonover
August 2008: Swimming with Sharks

Why is Sanjayan swimming in a slick of tuna blood and guts, waiting for sharks?

Wild LifeInside a cafe in Paris. © Ethos
July 2008: It's Not Easy Being Green

The complexity of manufacturing processes, transportation and globalization makes environmental costing and evaluation of trade-offs about as murky as a green pond — even for us scientists.

Wild LifeOstrich egg in Namib Desert © Sanjayan
June 2008: An Egg is An Egg

In the rarified world of international diplomacy, we sometimes forget about the people with dirt under their fingernails, scrabbling to save a little corner of the planet.

Wild LifePolar bear in Churchill, Canada, North America. Photo credit: © Diane E. Chenault
April 2008: When Polar Bears Attack

For a polar bear, if it's not rock or ice, it's probably food.

Wild LifeEurasian Roller. © Sanjayan
March 2008: The Ghost Bird

Conservation should of course protect "the best" if we can. But we should also make room for the odd, the strange, the maligned.

Wild LifePoverty in Africa. © Sanjayan
February 2008: Worth a Thousand Words

We can't hope to succeed by ignoring people who depend on wild nature to survive.

Wild LifeNew York Stock Exchange © Bouke
January 2008: The Jaguar and the Tiger

Conservation has cost less to do abroad that in the United States but that's changing.

Wild LifeSanjayan Muttulingam, a lead scientist with The Nature Conservancy, examines coastal damage caused by the December 2004 tsunami which struck Sri Lanka. Using a small boat, Sanjayan proceeds along the southern coast near Sri Lanka's Yala National Park. © Mark Godfrey 2005 The Nature Conservancy
December 2007: I'm the Diversity

In the United States as well as in the upper echelons of many developing countries, conservation and wildlife science are very much monochromatic affairs.

Wild LifeRocky Mountain Front in Montana, United States, North America. © Harold E. Malde
November 2007: Should We Save the Last Intact Places?

Montana hasn't suffered an animal extinction in the past 200 years, making it one of the last "intact" places in the world.

Wild LifeA juvenile black rhino (Diceros bicornis) at the Lewa Wildlife Conservancy (LWC) in the Laikipia District of Northern Kenya. The Conservancy is partnering with LWC to help protect the grasslands and savannas of Kenya, Tanzania and Zambia through our Campaign for a Sustainable Planet. © Ron Geatz/TNC
October 2007: The Encounter

Sanjayan encounters one of only about 3,500 black rhinoceroses left in the world.

Wild LifePenguins on ice in the Weddell Sea, Antarctica. © Robert Angell
September 2007: Climate Change and the Arctic

Sanjayan came this summer to Alaska to see first-hand how its animals, plants and people are dealing with climate change.

Wild LifeRhesus Macaques in India © Thomas Schoch
July 2007: Mr. President and His Monkeys

The Rashtrapati Bhavan Palace has gardens that attract the Indian primate, the bonnet macaques.

Wild LifeMoon over Ear Mountain in Pine Butte Swamp Preserve, Montana, United States, North America. © Harold E. Malde
June 2007: The Perpetual War for Nature

"Know they enemy and know thyself, for that is the surest way to victory." - Sun Tzu

Wild LifeJune 2008 - Rift Valley Province, Kenya. A baby elephant nurses in Amboseli National Park. © Anand Mishra/TNC
May 2007: The Road to Optimism

The true miracle of Africa is that so much wildlife has managed to persist.

Wild LifeA sign in a village in Africa © Jonrawlinson
April 2007: The AIDS Drain on Conservation

There are 30 million people infected with HIV in sub-Saharan Africa — and adults of prime age are the hardest hit.

Wild LifeDiamond Mining in Kono District, Sierra Leone © L. Lartigue, USAID
March 2007: Blood and Diamonds

Countries that rely on a single, exploitable natural resource such as diamonds reap a whirlwind of negative consequences.

Wild Life February 2007Lion in Maasai Mara, Kenya, Africa. Named for the Maasai people and the Mara River which divides it, Maasai Mara is a large park reserve nestled within the enormous Great Rift Valley. © Kenneth K. Coe
February 2007: To Shoot a Lion

Is private land conservation possible in the savannas of East Africa?

Sanjayan Muttulingam

Lead Scientist

M. Sanjayan is the lead scientist for The Nature Conservancy, where he specializes in human well-being and conservation, Africa, wildlife ecology, and media outreach and public speaking on conservation issues.

 

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