Conservation in India has had many icons over generations – Salim Ali, Jim Corbett and Kailash Sankhala.  For my generation, AJT Johnsingh was a living legend.

Having completed my Masters in Conservation Biology from the U.K., in 2001, I was on a visit to the Wildlife Institute of India for their Annual Research Seminar where students present their latest scientific findings on their projects. Evening chats with students would be full of anecdotes, but one faculty member’s name would figure in every story, of Asir Jawahar Thomas Johnsingh, more fondly known as ‘AJT’ and his ability to ‘outwalk’ any student in the forest. Quite clearly, he had left a lasting impression teaching generations of students, conservation biology.

Subsequently, I had brief interactions with him at conferences. I was working on a community-based conservation project and never was I made to feel small that I was interacting with a legend. He was curious, would listen patiently to my experience and struggles. And of course, he knew more. His research interests were a reflection of the sheer diversity of species in India from large mammals to freshwater fish in India.  Over the years he had conducted various studies related to the Asian elephant, Asiatic lion, goral, Himalayan ibex, Nilgiri tahr, sloth bear and the Nilgiri langur.

I woke up one morning to a comprehensive review of my book Rewilding in India (published by Oxford University Press), written by him, in which he analysed each chapter in detail, revealing an astute observer. He had picked up the nuances in my book – that is an absolute delight for an author. I found him agnostic of the political divides in conservation. He remained a man of the ‘field’ who remaining singularly committed to his discipline.

His biography states he has “trained over 300 wildlife managers, 50 M.Sc. Wildlife Science students and supervised many Ph.D. students in India”. I am sure the numbers were even bigger. With over 70 scientific papers and over 80 popular articles on wildlife conservation, his legacy is huge. He was awarded the 2004 Distinguished Service Award for Government from the Society for Conservation Biology, the Carl Zeiss Wildlife Conservation Award 2004 for lifetime service to Indian wildlife and the ABN AMRO Sanctuary Lifetime Wildlife Service Award in 2005. He retired as Dean, Faculty of Wildlife Sciences at the Wildlife Institute of India in October 2005.

With his recent passing on June 7, 2024, there has been an outpouring of grief from across sectors. Politicians, ministers and of course the hundreds of students he taught and mentored, shared messages reflecting the influence he had garnered over the years.

M.K. Stalin, Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu wrote on the social media platform X (formerly Twitter), “Tamil Nadu lost a leading light today, Dr. A.J.T. Johnsingh, a luminary in wildlife conservation. His humility, compassion, and dedication to science-based conservation will continue to guide us.”

Former Union Environment Minister Jairam Ramesh recalled on social media, “Few have had AJT’s knowledge of India’s natural heritage, biodiversity, forests and wildlife. During my tenure as Minister during 2009-11, he was someone who I turned to very frequently for advice and guidance.”

A number of students and contemporaries also shared their anecdotes about their teacher and mentor, with me. Wildlife veterinarian and Senior Advisor, Wildlife Trust of India, NVK Ashraf recalls, “Being fond of taxonomy, I used to naturally spend more time on it. At WII, they were very particular about everyone having a field notebook (I presume they still continue this tradition). AJT had the habit of collecting our field notebooks every now and then and see what we have been writing in it.  He wrote in my field notebook, “Wildlife is not only taxonomy; Learn computer”. With him we learnt the art of walking in the forests, and the nuances of identifying tracks and signs. At WII, there was a time I used to converse with him only in Hindi, so as to improve our Hindi (not sure if it helped). Dr. Johnsingh’s demise signals the end of an era, the era of field biologists who relied on their senses of sight, smell, hearing, touch and taste to observe and infer nature.”

Wildlife ecologist from the Nature Conservation Foundation, Aparajita Dutta recalls, “It’s hard to encapsulate what Dr. Johnsingh taught many of us who were his students. He had a childlike curiosity and enthusiasm – age did not diminish that spark. He took pride in spotting animals first and would be very competitive about it! On a field trip in Sariska, we were supposed to leave at 5 am – it was winter, very cold, and dark and all of us overslept. He came in, switched on the lights in the dormitory and admonished us for being so late and that one does not do that sort of thing if one wants to be a wildlife biologist/ecologist. We all scrambled to get ready and be out in 10 minutes. All these lessons were learnt during the M.Sc., and at that time, we used to complain and laugh about it. But now some of these are habits are second nature.”

Dutta remembers a number of field trips she did with AJT but the one she treasures most is to Corbett Tiger Reserve with him and Field Director A.S. Negi. “It was a real privilege for a young researcher to be taken along with them and getting to walk in and go to the interiors of the park. It was there that I saw my first tiger at sunset on the Ramganga river. He also had genuine concern and empathy for people. The support and admin staff at WII (drivers, cooks, peons) and many field staff and others, I recall, really loved and adored him for this quality,” she adds.

Pia Sethi, an ecologist and senior fellow at CEDAR, the Centre for Ecology Development and Research, had her first sighting of the goral in Corbett on a field trip with AJT. She shares some fond memories. “I can never forget his lecture to senior forest officers who sat quietly, like chastised school kids, as he merrily reprimanded them for not spending enough time in the field. Only someone of his stature could get away with something like that. His towering personality, enormous field-based knowledge, and infectious, child-like enthusiasm for nature made him one of the most respected and cherished wildlife biologists in the country. Dr. Johnsingh loved to teach, but he was also always a student, happy to learn from others.”

Senior ecologist Bivash Pandav who also taught at the Wildlife Institute of India, shared, in an email to this author, “During his two decades tenure at the Wildlife Institute of India, Dr. Johnsingh trained hundreds of forest officers and inspired an equal number of young biologists to excel in the field of wildlife conservation. He had this amazing ability to bring a jungle into the classroom and make a classroom out of the jungle. No one in this country has so far managed to achieve what Dr. Johnsingh has achieved in field biology. I doubt anyone will be. With the demise of Dr. Johnsingh a beautiful chapter in India’s wildlife has come to an end”.

His passing is a grim reminder of the ever-shrinking numbers of the wildlife conservation community. For this community, it is certainly a colossal blow. For the elephants in the jungle, the landscapes where Johnsingh once walked, it is a bigger loss. Few knew India’s forests as he did, and few dared to walk as much as he did. His, will indeed be giant footsteps to follow.

The author is an environment journalist, conservation biologist and an associate professor at the Shiv Nadar University.

Banner image: A 2005 image of AJT Johnsingh. With his recent passing on June 7, 2024, there has been an outpouring of grief from across sectors. Politicians, ministers and of course the hundreds of students he taught and mentored, shared messages reflecting the influence he had garnered over the years.

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