Camilla Jessen
Researcher who reshaped elephant science dies in Nairobi
Iain Douglas-Hamilton, one of the world’s most influential wildlife scientists and a leading voice in elephant conservation, has died at the age of 83 at his home in Nairobi.
His research transformed global understanding of elephant behaviour and helped drive international action against ivory poaching.
Tributes have poured in from conservationists, scientists and public figures.
Prince William described him as “a man who dedicated his life to conservation,” adding that memories of time spent with him in Africa “will remain with me forever.”
Tusk founder Charles Mayhew said the world had “lost a true conservation legend.”
Early life and groundbreaking research
Born in Dorset in 1942, Douglas-Hamilton studied biology in Scotland and zoology at Oxford before moving to Tanzania at the age of 23.
At Lake Manyara National Park, he began identifying individual elephants by their ears, wrinkles and behaviour – a method no researcher had attempted at the time.
“Nobody had lived with wildlife in Africa and looked at them as individuals yet,” he later said.
His work laid the foundation for modern elephant science and long-term population monitoring.
Exposing the poaching crisis
While tracking herds, he documented an alarming rise in poaching.
He survived elephant charges, bee attacks and gunfire from poachers as he carried out aerial surveys that revealed the true scale of the killing.
His findings were central to securing the 1989 global ban on the ivory trade, a crisis he once called “an elephant holocaust.”
Jane Goodall later said he helped the world understand that elephants “are capable of feeling just like humans.”
Building Save the Elephants
In 1993, Douglas-Hamilton founded Save the Elephants, which became a leader in conservation research.
He pioneered the use of GPS tracking to map elephant movements, showing their remarkable memory, decision-making and long-distance migrations.
Frank Pope, the charity’s CEO and his son-in-law, said Douglas-Hamilton “changed the future not just for elephants, but for huge numbers of people across the globe.”
His influence reached world leaders including Barack Obama and Xi Jinping, contributing to the 2015 U.S. and China agreements to restrict ivory sales.
A legacy that endures
Across six decades, Douglas-Hamilton received honours including the OBE, CBE and the Indianapolis Prize. Yet he often said his greatest hope was simple: a future built on “human-elephant coexistence.”
He is survived by his wife Oria, daughters Saba and Dudu, and six grandchildren.
Sources: BBC; Save the Elephants; A Life Among Elephants.
