Iain Douglas-Hamilton
| Iain Douglas-Hamilton | |
|---|---|
 |
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| Born | 16 August 1942 |
| Residence | Kenya, Africa |
| Nationality | British |
| Alma mater | Oriel College, Oxford |
| Doctoral advisor | Nikolaas Tinbergen |
| Known for | Study of elephant behaviour |
| Notable awards | San Diego Zoo Lifetime Achievement 2015, Indianapolis Prize, |
| Spouse | Oria Rocco |
| Children | Saba Douglas-Hamilton & Mara Moon "Dudu" Douglas-Hamilton |
Iain Douglas-Hamilton CBE (born 16 August 1942) is a zoologist known for his study of elephants. He earned both a B.Sc. in biology and a D.Phil. in zoology from Oriel College, Oxford, and he is the recipient of the 2010 Indianapolis Prize for his work on elephant conservation. His chief research interest is to understand elephant choices by studying their movements. In 1993, he founded the organization Save the Elephants. He is a frequent keynote speaker at the annual Wildlife Conservation Network expo.
Douglas-Hamilton is the son of Lord David Douglas-Hamilton, a World War II Royal Air Force officer and Spitfire pilot, and Ann Prunella Stack, a women’s rights activist, and he has an elder brother, Diarmaid. He was born in Dorset, UK, attended Gordonstoun School in Scotland between 1955 and 1960, and went on to study Zoology at Oxford University, earning first a bachelor's degree, in 1965, and then a D.Phil, in 1972. He is married to Oria Douglas-Hamilton, Founder of Elephant Watch Camp (a luxury tented camp with the highest eco-credentials, located in Samburu National Reserve), with whom he has two daughters, Saba, a documentary film-maker and television presenter, and Dudu, a documentary producer. He and his family live in Kenya.
At the age of 23, Douglas-Hamilton moved to Tanzania to live in the wild in Lake Manyara National Park, where he carried out the first scientific study of the social interactions of the African elephant. From that study came his hypothesis, rooted in behavioural ecology, that elephant movements could hold the key to understanding their reactions to their changing environments. Douglas-Hamilton argues that collecting and analysing large amounts of data on elephant locations and migrations can lead to insights into their choices, and therefore assist in their protection against rising threats, including poaching and human-wildlife conflict.
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