Salim Ali Biography 
Salim Ali was an Indian ornithologist and naturalist who conducted survey on birds systematically across India. He had written books on birds that develop ornithology. He became an important person in the Bombay Natural History Society which created the Bharatpur bird sanctuary. He voiced against the destruction of Silent Valley National Park. He received Padma Vibhushan award from the Government of India for his works in 1976.
He was born on 12th November 1896 in a Sulaimani Bohra Muslim family as the ninth and last child in Bombay. His parents are Moizuddin and Zeenat Un Nissa. Both of them died when he was a baby and so the children were brought up by their maternal uncle Amiruddin Tyabji and his aunt Hamida Begum. Salim Ali was introduced to the study of birds by W. S. Millard who was the secretary of Bombay Natural History Society. He encouraged him to make a collection of birds.
He studied at Zanana Bibel Medical Mission Girls High School at Girgaum and later studied at St. Xavier’s College in Bombay. He was dropped out and he went to Tavoy, Burma to look after the family’s Wolfram mining. He returned back to India in 1917 and joined Davar’s College of Commerce to study commercial law and accountancy. The he also attended Zoology classes at St. Xavier’s College. He married Tehmina in December 1918.
Salim Ali and Tehmina moved to Kihim near Mumbai. His wife supported his ornithological surveys. However she died in 1939. He was not interested in the bird taxonomy or systematic but was interested in studying the bird in its natural environment. He influenced the other members of his family too to take an interest in birds.
He had written a number of journal articles and the important one among them was Journal of the Bombay Natural History Society. Stopping by the woods on a Sunday morning is a popular article written by him in 1930. The birds of Kerala, The Birds of Sikkim, The Birds of Kutch, Indian Hill Birds, and Birds of the Eastern Himalayas are some of his field guides. His recognition came very late and he received a number of honorary doctorate degrees and awards. The Joy Gobinda Law Gold Medal was awarded to him by the Asiatic Society of Bengal in 1953. He received the Gold Medal of British Ornithologists Union. He died in 1987 at the age of 91.
Published: N/A
Updated: August 16, 2011
