Latika Nath is an Indian author, photographer and wildlife conservationist that has received multiple awards including “Tiger Princess of India” by National Geographic.

Early life and education

Latika Nath was born to Professor Lalit M Nath and Meera Nath. Lalit Nath is ex-director AIIMS and was on the Indian Board of Wildlife and responsible for setting up the animal conservation movement in India in the 1970s. She spent much of her childhood visiting wilderness areas with her parents. Latika Nath graduated in

environmental science Environmental science is an interdisciplinary academic field that integrates physics, biology, and geography (including ecology, chemistry, plant science, zoology, mineralogy, oceanography, limnology, soil science, geology and physical geograp ...

from the

University of Delhi Delhi University (DU), formally the University of Delhi, is a collegiate central university located in New Delhi, India. It was founded in 1922 by an Act of the Central Legislative Assembly and is recognized as an Institute of Eminence (IoE) ...

and was awarded a Chevening Award by

The British Council The British Council is a British organisation specialising in international cultural and educational opportunities. It works in over 100 countries: promoting a wider knowledge of the United Kingdom and the English language (and the Welsh lan ...

to complete a master's degree in rural resource management from the University College of North Wales, Bangor, UK. She then obtained her D. Phil under the guidance of Prof. David Macdonald at the

Wildlife Conservation Research Unit The Wildlife Conservation Research Unit (WildCRU) is part of the Department of Zoology at the University of Oxford in England. Its mission is to achieve practical solutions to conservation problems through original scientific research, training ...

(WildCRU), Department of Zoology, Christ Church,

Oxford Oxford () is a city in England. It is the county town and only city of Oxfordshire. In 2020, its population was estimated at 151,584. It is north-west of London, south-east of Birmingham and north-east of Bristol. The city is home to the ...

. She was awarded a Research Fellowship at the

Wildlife Institute of India The Wildlife Institute of India (WII) is an autonomous natural resource service institution established in 1982 under the Ministry of Environment Forest and Climate change, Government of India. WII carries out wildlife research in areas of stu ...

and worked on Human-Elephant conflict resolution issues.

Career

Latika Nath began as an academic and has consulted on environmental and wildlife issues for national and international organisations including

IUCN The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN; officially International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources) is an international organization working in the field of nature conservation and sustainable use of natu ...

UNDP The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP)french: Programme des Nations unies pour le développement, PNUD is a United Nations agency tasked with helping countries eliminate poverty and achieve sustainable economic growth and human dev ...

UNFPA The United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), formerly the United Nations Fund for Population Activities, is a UN agency aimed at improving reproductive and maternal health worldwide. Its work includes developing national healthcare strategies ...

and

ICIMOD The International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development (ICIMOD) is a regional intergovernmental learning and knowledge sharing centre serving the eight regional member countries (RMCs) of thHindu Kush Himalaya(HKH) region - Afghanistan, Ban ...

. Nath has traveled the world to photograph various animal species ( tigers,

lions The lion (''Panthera leo'') is a large cat of the genus ''Panthera'' native to Africa and India. It has a muscular, broad-chested body; short, rounded head; round ears; and a hairy tuft at the end of its tail. It is sexually dimorphic; adult ...

, cheetahs,

jaguars The jaguar (''Panthera onca'') is a large cat species and the only living member of the genus ''Panthera'' native to the Americas. With a body length of up to and a weight of up to , it is the largest cat species in the Americas and the thi ...

snow leopards The snow leopard (''Panthera uncia''), also known as the ounce, is a felid in the genus ''Panthera'' native to the mountain ranges of Central and South Asia. It is listed as Vulnerable on the IUCN Red List because the global population is esti ...

, clouded leopards,

Asian Elephant The Asian elephant (''Elephas maximus''), also known as the Asiatic elephant, is the only living species of the genus ''Elephas'' and is distributed throughout the Indian subcontinent and Southeast Asia, from India in the west, Nepal in the no ...

, the

Gangetic Dolphin South Asian river dolphins are toothed whales in the genus ''Platanista'', which inhabit fresh water habitats in the northern Indian subcontinent. They were historically considered to be one species (''P. gangetica'') with the Ganges river do ...

, the arna or wild water buffalo (''

Bubalus arnee The wild water buffalo (''Bubalus arnee''), also called Asian buffalo, Asiatic buffalo and wild buffalo, is a large bovine native to the Indian subcontinent and Southeast Asia. It has been listed as ''Endangered'' in the IUCN Red List since 198 ...

'')) and worked for their conservation. She subsequently worked with tribal communities to resolve human-wildlife conflicts.

Notable works

Publications and films

* Omo- Where time stood still – 2019. Limited Editions. Academic Foundation. * Nath Latika & Nath Shloka. Hidden India 2018 – a journey to where the wild things are. Limited Editions. Academic Foundation. * Rana, Latika Nath 2005 Takdir the Tiger Cub. Tulika Books. * Rana, LN 2005. Report on the status of large mammalian species and identification of biological corridors in the Khangchenjunga Conservation Landscape. ICIMOD, Nepal * Rana LN 2002. Conservation of Wetland Fauna in Nepal. Proceedings of the River Symposium 2002, Brisbane, Australia. * C. Carbone1, S. Christie, K. Conforti, T. Coulson, N. Franklin, J. R. Ginsberg, M. Griffiths, J. Holden, M. Kinnaird, R. Laidlaw, A. Lynam, D. W. MacDonald, D. Martyr, C. McDougal, L. Nath, T. O'Brien, J. Seidensticker, J. L. D. Smith, R. Tilson and W. N. Wan Shahruddin .(2000) The use of photographic rates to estimate densities of cryptic mammals: response to Jennelle ''et al''. ''Anim. Conserv. 5'': 121–123. * Latika Rana – Tiger Princess of India. National Geographic Television.

Contributions

* Remembering Great Apes – 2018. Margot Raggett. Wildlife Photographers United. * Macdonald, David 2001 The New Encyclopaedia of Mammals. Oxford University Press. * Riding the Tiger: Tiger Conservation in Human-Dominated Landscapes. 1999. Seidensticker J, Christie S and Jackson P. * National Geographic. December 1997. Vol. 192. No 6. Wild Tigers * A Tiger's Tale. BBC Wildlife * Wild Things – Latika Nath (

Discovery Channel Discovery Channel (known as The Discovery Channel from 1985 to 1995, and often referred to as simply Discovery) is an American cable channel owned by Warner Bros. Discovery, a publicly traded company run by CEO David Zaslav. , Discovery Channe ...

) * A Tale of Two Tigers.

BBC Wildlife ''BBC Wildlife'' is a British glossy, all-colour magazine about wildlife, operated and published by Immediate Media Company. It produces 13 issues a year. ''BBC Wildlife'' was launched in January 1963 as ''Animals Magazine'', edited by filmmaker ...

Exhibitions

* Omo – where time stood still. The Bikaner House, New Delhi. 5–12 November 2018 * Omo – a preview. The Corridor Project @The Quorum Club, Gurugram, Delhi NCR. 6 November – 6 December 2018. * Participated in a Group Show – An Eye on the Tiger, The World's Largest Tiger Photography Exhibition by the World's best Wildlife Photographers. The Royal Albert Hall, 18 September – 14 October 2018 * Participated in a Group Show – Remembering Great Apes. La Galleria, Pall Mall, London, United Kingdom. 15–27 October 2018

Awards, honors, grants and titles

* Grant from Save the Tiger Fund for Camera Trap Development 1998–1999 * Overseas Research Student Scholarship * Oxford and Cambridge Society of India Scholarship * Foreign and Commonwealth Office Scholarship for the Year (Chevening Award) * Research Fellowship, Wildlife Institute of India, Dehra dun, 1994 – 1997 * Karmaveer Puraskaar for Work in the field of Environment and Conservation * Award from ATOI for contribution to Ecotourism in India 2007. National Geographic featured Latika in an hour long program called "Latika Rana – Tiger Princess" for a series titled "True Originals (USA)" and "Truth Files (Worldwide)" * Latika was part of the campaign to launch National Geographic Channel in India along with Gerry Martin and Hritikh Roshan * TEDxGurgaon 2012 Born to be Wild. * TEDxSIULavale 2019. Tiger Conservation and more * "Her Daringness" May 2020 - An honorary title bestowed by former Ministerial Adviser Mr Nitin Gupta in a Cover Story based on Latika's life and work. Nitin was Adviser to Victorian Premier Ted Baillieu.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Nath, Latika 21st-century Indian photographers Indian wildlife photographers Indian women photographers Delhi University alumni Alumni of Christ Church, Oxford Living people Year of birth missing (living people) 21st-century women photographers