Distinguished Lecture
The Great Elephant Migration
Coexistence in Action
How Elephants and Indigenous Knowledge Are Shaping a More Sustainable Future
The Great Elephant Migration is the journey of 100 Indian elephants who are sharing their story across the US, to amplify Indigenous knowledge and worldviews, and inspire the human race to share space.
In the last 30 years, the population of India has doubled to 1.4 billion. Remarkably, the population of elephants, rhinos, lions, and tigers has also doubled over this period. They coexist in extraordinary ways, tolerating each other and constantly negotiating space. In the Nilgiri Hills of South India, 150 elephants share space relatively peacefully with a quarter of a million people. This ability to coexist is linked to a deep cultural relationship, where humans are not thought of as separate from nature. There exists a range of beliefs and practices based on mutual respect and co-adaptation.
Using a range of case studies on human-wildlife interactions that inspire this migration, Dr. Tarsh Thekaekara will make a case for re-envisioning the way we think about conservation—shifting from protecting small pockets of nature while destroying the rest of the Earth, to rekindling the human-nature relationship, rewilding ourselves, and living more harmoniously with all forms of nature on a more sustainable, shared planet.
In the last 30 years, the population of India has doubled to 1.4 billion. Remarkably, the population of elephants, rhinos, lions, and tigers has also doubled over this period. They coexist in extraordinary ways, tolerating each other and constantly negotiating space. In the Nilgiri Hills of South India, 150 elephants share space relatively peacefully with a quarter of a million people. This ability to coexist is linked to a deep cultural relationship, where humans are not thought of as separate from nature. There exists a range of beliefs and practices based on mutual respect and co-adaptation.
Using a range of case studies on human-wildlife interactions that inspire this migration, Dr. Tarsh Thekaekara will make a case for re-envisioning the way we think about conservation—shifting from protecting small pockets of nature while destroying the rest of the Earth, to rekindling the human-nature relationship, rewilding ourselves, and living more harmoniously with all forms of nature on a more sustainable, shared planet.
April 2, 2025 6:30 p.m.
See Event Members $12, Public $18
See Admission Located in Burke Baker Planetarium
See Accessibility Please Note:
This lecture is eligible for 1 hour of CPE credit.
Meet the Speaker
Dr. Thekaekara lives in the Nilgiri Hills and is involved in two main areas of research and conservation action – better integrating human-elephant spaces and better managing invasive species, particularly Lantana Camara. He holds a PhD in human-elephant interactions from The Open University and an MSc in Biodiversity, Conservation and Management from The University of Oxford. As a conservationist researcher he spans multiple institutions – a co-founder and trustee of The Shola Trust, a director of The Real Elephant Collective, a working group member of the Coexistence Consortium, and faculty at the Centre for Human-Wildlife Coexistence at the Transdisciplinary University.
Thank You
Distinguished Lectures are supported by Apache Corporation
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