Join us on 29 March at 6:00 PM for the launch of 'Snakes, Drugs and Rock 'n' Roll' by Romulus Whitaker, with Janaki Lenin. They will be in conversation with Suhel Quader.
RSVP here
Romulus Earl Whitaker is an American-born Indian herpetologist, wildlife conservationist, and founder of the Madras Snake Park, the Andaman and Nicobar Environment Trust (ANET), and the Madras Crocodile Bank Trust. In 2008, Whitaker was selected as an associate laureate in the 2008 Rolex Awards for Enterprise for his efforts to create a network of rainforest research stations throughout India. In 2005, he was a winner of a Whitley Award for outstanding leadership in nature conservation. He used this award to found the Agumbe Rainforest Research Station in Karnataka, for the study of king cobras and their habitat. For his work in wildlife conservation, he received the Padma Shri award in 2018 by the Government of India.
Janaki Lenin is the author of A King Cobra’s Summer (2010), My Husband and Other Animals (2012), My Husband and Other Animals 2 – The Wildlife Adventure Continues, (2014) and Every Creature Has A Story (2020). She co-wrote the first volume of her husband Romulus Whitaker’s autobiography, Snakes, Drugs and Rock ‘n’ Roll, to be released in January 2024.Between 2008 and 2012, she was the Regional Chair for the IUCN/SSC/Crocodile Specialist Group (South Asia and Iran), Executive Secretary of the Gharial Conservation Alliance, and a member of IUCN’s Theme on the Social and Environmental Accountability of the Private Sector. She set up Draco Films, a wildlife film production company, with Rom Whitaker. And also ran a book publishing company Draco Books for two decades.
Suhel Quader is an ecologist who works on a variety of topics, from pure research to citizen science, and also on educational and outreach materials about nature. His main interest is in engaging with the larger public in better understanding the natural world and how it is changing. This is sometimes called Citizen Science or Public Participation in Scientific Research. These projects are run in collaboration with the National Centre for Biological Sciences, as well as other partners. He works through the Bird Count India partnership to better understand the distribution, seasonality and abundance of birds. And in SeasonWatch, works with schools and individual participants to investigate seasonal patterns in leaf-flush, flowering and fruiting of trees. He has studied various aspects of animal behaviour: flocking in Cinereous Tits, mate choice in Baya Weavers, and brood parasitism by Koels on Crows.