Renowned teacher, conservationist, herpetologist and wetland resources expert, Prof B C Choudhury is the first-generation Wildlife Biologist of India whose initiation into the field coincides with the establishment of wildlife as a science in the country. After almost 30-years long stint with the Wildlife Institute of India, Dehradun, he retired as a Senior Professor and Scientist ‘G’ in the year 2012. Prof Choudhury is now a senior advisor and consultant with some of the leading wildlife conservation and management organizations nationally as well as globally.
In his service term, he has coordinated over half century of national and international projects related to wildlife conservation, habitat and resource management. With the authorship of over 100 publications in peer reviewed journals, technical reports and innumerable chapters in wildlife conservation related books under his name, he has also edited ENVIS publications for many years. Prof Choudhury is a member of over a dozen specialist groups of SSC/IUCN and is on board to various technical/research/executive committees across the world. He has supervised three PhDs, five MPhil and ten MSc dissertations at the Wildlife Institute of India. He holds extensive experience in providing professional training to wildlife managers, biologists and sociologists.
Prof Choudhury is the recipient of Society for Conservation Biology (SCB) Distinguished Service Award 2005 for outstanding contribution to Conservation of Indian Cranes, Sea Turtles and Crocodilians.