Iain Douglas-Hamilton facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Iain Douglas-Hamilton
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Douglas-Hamilton in Samburu National Reserve
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| Born | 16 August 1942 Ferne, Shaftesbury, England
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| Died | 8 December 2025 (aged 83) |
| Alma mater | Oriel College, Oxford (BSc, DPhil) |
| Occupation | Zoologist |
| Known for | Study of elephant behaviour |
| Spouse(s) | Oria Rocco |
| Children | Saba Douglas-Hamilton Dudu Douglas-Hamilton |
| Awards | Commander of the Order of the British Empire Indianapolis Prize Order of the Golden Ark |
| Scientific career | |
| Thesis | The Ecology and Behaviour of the African Elephant - The Elephants of Lake Manyara |
| Doctoral advisor | Nikolaas Tinbergen |
Iain Douglas-Hamilton (born August 16, 1942, died December 8, 2025) was a famous Scottish zoologist. He was one of the world's top experts on African elephants. He dedicated his life to understanding and protecting these amazing animals.
When he was 23, Iain started the first detailed scientific study of how elephants behave in Lake Manyara National Park in Tanzania. His early work helped us understand elephants much better. It also shaped how we protect them today.
In the 1970s, he traveled across Africa to check on elephant populations. He was the first to warn the world about the terrible problem of poaching for ivory. His efforts led to the first worldwide ban on ivory trade in 1989. In 1993, he founded Save the Elephants, an organization that works to protect elephants and their homes.
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Iain Douglas-Hamilton's Early Life and Dreams
Iain Douglas-Hamilton was born on August 16, 1942, in England. His mother, Ann Prunella Stack, was a pioneer in women's fitness. His grandmother, Nina Douglas-Hamilton, was also an animal rights activist. Iain's father, a pilot, sadly passed away in 1944 during the war.
From a young age, Iain had a big dream. When he was just 10 years old, he imagined flying across Africa to help save animals. He went to Gordonstoun School in Scotland. Later, he studied zoology at Oxford University, where he earned his degrees.
Iain married Oria Douglas-Hamilton, who started the Elephant Watch Camp in Kenya. They had two daughters, Saba and Dudu. Saba is a TV presenter, and Dudu also works to protect nature. The family lived in Kenya. Iain and Oria wrote two popular books together, Among the Elephants and Battle for the Elephants. They also made several TV films about elephants. Iain passed away on December 8, 2025, at 83 years old.
Iain's Work in Africa
Studying Elephants in Tanzania
When Iain was 23, he moved to Lake Manyara National Park in Tanzania. He lived in the wild to study African elephants. This was the first time anyone had done such a detailed scientific study of how elephants interact with each other.
Iain believed that understanding how elephants move could help us protect them. By tracking their journeys, he thought we could learn how they react to changes in their environment. This information is vital for keeping them safe from dangers like poaching and conflicts with people. His experiences there are shared in the book Among the Elephants, which he wrote with his wife, Oria.
He once said, "Nobody had lived with wildlife in Africa and looked at them as individuals yet. I was incredibly lucky to have had the chance to be the first person to do that with elephants.”
Protecting Wildlife in Uganda
From 1980 to 1982, Iain lived in Uganda. He became an Honorary Chief Park Warden. His job was to lead efforts against poaching and help restore Uganda's national parks. These parks had faced many challenges.
During this time, Iain's plane was even shot at by people illegally hunting animals. He worked hard to protect elephants and other wildlife. In 2022, Iain returned to Uganda. He helped put tracking collars on elephants. This helped researchers understand how elephants move and live near local communities.
Founding Save the Elephants in Kenya
Iain and his family moved to Kenya. In 1993, he started Save the Elephants. This organization focuses only on protecting elephants. Iain wanted to create a flexible group that could quickly respond to elephant needs.
Through Save the Elephants, he shared important research with the world. This research focused on poaching and how elephants and humans can live together peacefully. He also gave many talks and worked with news outlets to raise awareness about elephants. Iain's main goal was to understand elephant behavior by studying how they move.
Iain's Conservation Efforts
How Iain Counted Elephants
Iain was a skilled pilot. He created new ways to track elephant movements from the sky. In the 1970s, he designed methods to count whole elephant families from low-flying planes. This allowed scientists to count large numbers of elephants for the first time.
From 1976 to 1979, Iain worked on a big project with IUCN and WWF. They surveyed elephant populations in 34 African countries. This research provided important facts to help protect elephants. He also studied the global ivory trade to understand its size and rules. He continued to lead these aerial surveys into the 1980s.
The Great Elephant Crisis and Ivory Ban
Iain's aerial surveys and other studies showed a huge problem: a poaching crisis was spreading across Africa. In the 1970s and 1980s, many elephants were killed for their ivory tusks. The demand for ivory, especially from Asia, was growing.
In Uganda, Iain saw how bad the situation was. By 1980, the elephant population had dropped from about 20,000 to only 1,600. He worked as an advisor to help stop poaching. He created air and ground patrols to catch poachers. Sometimes, his plane was even shot at during these dangerous missions.
Iain's research showed that Africa's elephant population had fallen sharply. From 1.3 million in 1979, it dropped to about 600,000 by 1989. This terrible loss became known as the "elephant crisis." Iain and other conservationists pushed for a worldwide ban on the ivory trade. In 1989, the ban was put in place. This helped elephant populations, especially in the savannas, begin to recover.
Save the Elephants' Important Work
Iain's early work showed that studying elephants closely could help create policies to protect them. To continue this, he founded Save the Elephants in 1993. This charity's mission is to "secure a future for elephants." They do this by protecting elephant habitats and helping people and elephants live together.
Save the Elephants has a main research station in Samburu National Reserve in Kenya. In 2010, floods nearly destroyed the camp. They also have a station in Tsavo, Kenya, where they study how humans and elephants can coexist.
Iain pioneered using GPS tracking for elephants in Africa. This method is now used widely to track elephants and guide rangers. In 2007, he even partnered with Google Earth to show elephant movements live.
Save the Elephants has studied about 1,000 elephants in Samburu for over 25 years. They fit elephants with special collars that send signals to computers. This detailed research helps scientists understand how poaching affects elephant populations. In 2016, Save the Elephants tracked an elephant that crossed into Somalia for the first time in decades.
The organization also works to reduce conflicts between growing human populations and elephants. Dr. Lucy King, mentored by Iain, leads a project using "Beehive Fences." These fences, with African bees, help stop elephants from damaging crops on farms.
In 2013, Save the Elephants launched the Elephant Crisis Fund. This fund supports other groups fighting the ivory trade and protecting elephants. It has given over $36 million to hundreds of organizations in more than 40 countries.
As the founder of Save the Elephants, Iain oversaw many projects. These included elephant surveys, radio-tracking, community conservation, and fighting illegal ivory trade.
Fighting the Poaching Crisis
Iain and other experts believed that some past ivory sales led to a new wave of illegal poaching. Between 2010 and 2012, over 100,000 African elephants were illegally killed. The price of ivory had almost doubled, making poaching more tempting.
In 2012, Iain spoke to leaders in the US government. He explained the serious links between poaching and insecurity in Africa. The demand for ivory in China and other Asian countries was high. People wanted to show off their wealth or hoped ivory prices would rise.
Iain told the US leaders that more effort was needed to stop poaching in Africa. Laws against poaching and smuggling needed to be stronger. He also stressed the importance of campaigns to reduce the demand for ivory products in Asia.
His important meeting at the White House led to new actions in 2013. These included efforts to stop the killing, trafficking, and demand for ivory. That same year, Save the Elephants published a detailed study on how illegal killing affected elephant populations.
Iain worked with many famous people to protect elephants. In 2012, he worked with WildAid and Chinese basketball star Yao Ming. Yao Ming's campaign helped reduce the demand for ivory in China.
In 2013, the Clinton Global Initiative announced an $80 million program to protect elephants. This was done with groups like Save the Elephants. In 2015, former President Bill Clinton and his daughter, Chelsea, visited Save the Elephants in Kenya. They saw firsthand the threats elephants faced.
In 2015, Save the Elephants shared good news: the price of illegal ivory in China had almost halved. This brought hope that elephant killings would decrease. Thanks to Iain's efforts, China announced it would end its domestic ivory trade in December 2017. The ban started in 2018.
Iain once said, "My hope is to secure a future for elephants forever. It's a challenge because humans are growing in numbers and demanding more from nature. My dream would be for human beings to live in balance with their environment, to stop destroying nature.”
Awards and Publications
Iain Douglas-Hamilton received many awards for his research and work. In 2010, he won the Indianapolis Prize, a top global award for animal conservation. He was also a finalist for this award in 2006 and 2008.
He received the George B Rabb Conservation Medal in 2014. In 2015, he was made a Commander of the British Empire (CBE). He also received a Lifetime Achievement Award from the San Diego Zoological Society. In 2025, Iain and Dr. Jake Wall won the Esmond B. Martin Royal Geographical Society Prize. This award recognizes great work in geographical and environmental research.
Iain was a member of important groups like the IUCN African Elephant Specialist Group. He also advised the European Union on wildlife. He published many scientific papers. With his wife Oria, he co-authored Battle for the Elephants (1992) and Among The Elephants (1975).
A moving documentary, A Life Among Elephants, tells Iain's story. It includes interviews with Jane Goodall and his daughters, Saba and Dudu. The film premiered in Europe in 2024 and in the US in March 2025. It also won the Flo Stone & Roger D.Stone Award for Artistry in Filmmaking.
Books
- 1992 – Battle for the Elephants
- 1975 – Among the Elephants
Films
- 1973 – The Family that Lives with Elephants
- 1989 – Ivory Wars
- 1998 – Africa's Elephant Kingdom
- 2009 – The Secret Life of Elephants
- 2015 – This Wild Life
- 2024 – A Life Among Elephants
