Gowri Shankar

Environmentalist

I am a king cobra conservationist studying king cobras for two decades. MY WORK: My Ph.D. study reconstructs the biogeographic history of king cobras in Southeast Asia demarcating them into more than one species. I regularly rescue king cobras from distress situations which helps both humans and the king cobra. I conduct specialized workshops called Scientific Training On Reptile Management(STORM) and the King Cobra Bionomics for varied audiences to create awareness and garner support for king cobra conservation. PUBLICATIONS: I have authored and co-authored 15 peer-reviewed scientific papers on king cobras where six were part of a special issue for the 'Hamadryad', a herpetological journal. WILDLIFE DOCUMENTARIES My work has been documented most recently in a wildlife documentary titled, 'Cobra King' on NatGeoWild and Smithsonian Channels respectively. I also feature in wildlife documentaries like the King Cobra and I, Secrets of the King Cobra, One million snake bites, Asia's deadliest snakes, Wildest India, Wild India and Mysteries of Wild India by channels like the BBC, Discovery, NatGeo Wild, Animal Planet, Smithsonian and the National Geographic Channel. ORGANIZATIONS I run two organizations-Kalinga Centre for Rainforest Ecology and Kalinga Foundation (named 'Kaalinga' i.e. king cobra in Kannada) which are an environmental education company and a non-profit organization respectively. Both organizations are based out of Agumbe, Karnataka, India.

Exploring and understanding the life of king cobras, devising novel methods (unique reptile workshops) to create awareness on snakes- particularly king cobras, creating educative videos to reach out to both local and international audiences, meeting people with great ideas and a refreshing outlook towards life.

Equip people with tools and knowledge to make conservation action possible for all through the integration of science and conscience.

Ecology, Environmental Education, Evolutionary Biology, Herpetology

I first heard of TED when I was invited for a TEDx event at Kundapur way back in 2010 and later for TEDx Gangtok in 2018. It became apparent that there was no other platform that exuded positivity and fresh ideas than TED. And now to know that I am part of the team of 20 TEDFellows from across the world is truly exciting and humbling. I attribute this success to king cobras, a charismatic snake whose life we are just starting to understand.

Martial arts, archery, horse-riding, tree climbing, farming and photography.