that’s awesome how about lions aren’t
they majestic well as majestic they as
they are unfortunately there aren’t many
of them left in the wild and they are in
danger here in the Americas we’re very
lucky to have wild cats like mountain
lions and bobcats here in our very own
backyards but what about backyards
around the world these are just four of
about 40 wild cat species around the
world
what about pampas cats Palace cats sand
cats and black footed cats what about
the world’s smallest cat the rusty
spotted cat it’s about the size of a
wine bottle all these cats have one
thing in common like many other species
on the planet they’re either threatened
endangered or some close to the point of
extinction in many parts of the world
I’m a wildlife conservationist and I’m
here to share with you the idea that we
as global citizens have a responsibility
and the power to protect these
endangered species and the beautiful
landscapes that they live in and this is
not just for our future generations but
for the sustenance of life on Earth the
only planet we have until we discover
another one
my journey in conservation began while I
was doing my engineering degree in India
that’s right I’m an Indian from India
you see in India we first do our
engineering degree and then we figure
out what to do in life and I can talk to
you like this all day long but you will
not understand anything because I talk
very very fast so I probably have to
so I was really lucky to get to travel
to Africa because of my mom and dad who
took me there and I got to camp out in
the middle of the Serengeti the heart of
Africa with these two amazing field
guides their names were Thomas and Jerry
and while we were camping around the
campfire they said to me you could you
were just like our brother you can just
call us Tom and Jerry and so Tom and
Jerry told me so much about their
backyard wildlife they told us about
animals like the dik-dik and the
secretary bird and their behaviors in
such great detail it just blew my mind
it inspired me what but what stuck would
be most was the love of their backyard
wildlife and how they said that their
lives actually depended on it and this
is when I decided to switch my career to
wildlife pursuing a career in
conservation was not easy especially in
India and when I was trying to look for
an opportunity I faced a lot of
disappointments a lot of professionals
in the field rejected me but then I had
a lot of disappointments but then
realized that these disappointments
actually turned into appointments
eventually and this didn’t happen by any
other means but through people these are
my heroes my mentors who coached me and
encouraged me to pursue a career in
conservation I eventually went on for
being a project assistant – obtaining a
degree in wildlife conservation both a
masters and a PhD and I didn’t do this
by any other means I did this by
analyzing a whole bunch of poop
that’s real mountain lion poop right
there we biologists like to call it the
gold mine because it can tell us a lot
of information poop DNA from poop can
tell you what animal it came from what
it ate who it’s related to who and how
many there are in a given area I was so
happy when I got my degrees I even
changed the license plate on my car and
then I went on to reflecting on this and
realized that this was a dream come true
for me I felt like I had received a
license to save save all the animals in
the world and the one thing that I
learned from all my mentors and friends
is that sharing your knowledge with
anyone and everyone can be very powerful
especially scientific knowledge when I
was pursuing my studies I got to go to
India and explore efforts for tiger
conservation in this wildlife sanctuary
that almost lost its tigers in the last
last decade I met with some amazing
people the man in the middle here who
you see his name is Shankar he used to
be a bamboo cutter the Tiger
Conservation Society that I was
volunteering for involved him in
research efforts to collect information
on tigers leopards and so many other
species that were in this sanctuary
Shankar got involved and not only helped
with Tiger conservation efforts but
because he knew the forest like the back
of his hand he was able to patrol the
forest and his efforts directly led to
establishing this sanctuary very
recently as India’s 42nd tiger reserve
now Shankar did not have any degrees but
what I want to share with you here is
that scientific knowledge is not
privileged in fact I think all of
science should be openly accessible by
everyone and anyone and sharing
knowledge and sharing this knowledge can
be very powerful not just to protect
endangered species but also the
livelihoods of entire communities so
when I finished my studies I wanted to
channel all this information that I had
gained into the quest for protecting a
wild cat that lives in my backyard in
it’s a cat that is probably more
endangered than the tiger and it is none
other than the fishing cat a cat that
loves water a cat that lives on fish and
loves to swim aren’t they fishing
awesome well when we started looking for
these cats on the coastline of South
India we found that these cats inhabit a
very unique ecosystem forests that are
present at the Nexus of rivers and
oceans people from Southeast US and
Florida can relate these forests grow
where salt water meets freshwater
mangrove forests mangroves we learn are
not just habitats for these amazing
species like fishing cats and
smooth-coated otters and sea turtles and
river turtles dog face water snakes
mobula rays and thousands of bird
species that depend on them for their
life cycles but mangroves also are a
source of livelihood for people people
depend on mangroves for their survival
on a day-to-day basis mangroves are also
the first line of defense between
natural disasters like tsunamis and
millions of livelihoods that live on
coastlines mangroves prevent soil
erosion and to top it all mangroves
store more than five times the carbon as
tropical forests so protecting one acre
of mangroves is like protecting five or
more acres of tropical forests but
here’s the big problem we have lost any
from 50 to 80% of the historic mangrove
cover in South and Southeast Asia
and this is because of our demands for
agriculture and aquaculture if you don’t
believe me go to your grocery store and
pick up that package of shrimp that says
product of Thailand product of Indonesia
product of India product of Sri Lanka
and it’s a farm raised well guess where
it comes from but not all is lost
and here’s where the story takes a twist
when we were looking for fishing cats in
these mangrove habitats we discovered
some communities and here’s a man who we
titled the mangrove man of India and the
reason why we did this is because while
they were amazed to learn about fishing
cats we learned that they had already
performed some game-changing magic in
this landscape here’s a Google Earth
image you all use Google Earth right you
can go check this place out scroll that
historic slider back to 2005 this was
the state of the landscape back then
mangrove forests encroached by fish and
shrimp farms and agricultural farms this
used to be a wildlife sanctuary now I
want you all to close your eyes for five
seconds do it now close your eyes for
five seconds and we’re gonna travel five
years forward and I want you to open
your eyes and take a look at that same
landscape again abandoned farms
converted to mangrove habitat this is
what it used to look like this is what
and this has not just happened on that
small piece of land but 27 thousand
acres of farms were restored to
mangroves in less than half a decade
through a community effort and guess who
lives there now here’s where I want to
connect the dots from cats to
communities to climate change and we can
clearly see the potential of engaging
citizens in science-based conservation
efforts and I believe that with enough
encouragement anyone can do conservation
when I was working on this project I was
contacted by this 18-year old boy
Santosh who was texting me on facebook
Messenger and going I really want to
help I really want to help protect these
cats in my backyard and I really want to
do something for conservation it took me
back to the time when I was yearning for
an opportunity to become a part of
wildlife conservation efforts and I said
I was going to change this when I became
a professional so we brought Santosh
onto the team and in less than six
months he learned all the skills of a
conservation biologist and he
communicated with his entire community
about the importance of protecting their
backyard ecosystems and the endangered
species out there that they really need
for their long-term survival Santosh not
only did that he educated schoolchildren
and he went on a harnessing trust with
tribal communities the man to the left
there his name is Moshe he used to hunt
fishing cats and guess what most she
does now he is helping us track cats and
collecting information on these species
and educating his community about wild
cats
about endangered species and the
importance of protecting them Moshi and
Santos helped us discover three new
populations of fishing cats and they’re
both employed in conservation I just
want to drive home the message now that
anyone can get involved and save species
from extinction and change the face of
the planet so go out there be curious
photograph that plant that poked you or
the bug that bugged you who knows you
might be a part of a discovery and don’t
forget to share your knowledge with the
world children the future of
safeguarding our ecosystems are waiting
to hear from you are you listening
just remember the name is scientist
citizen scientist and you have the
license to save save the world from extinction thank you very much