Naturalist
Specialty: Urban Nature · Mugger Crocodile · Birding · Zoo Management
Umesh Avadootha sees himself, first and foremost, as a bridge between people and nature. Over a decade in the field has carried him from internships at Mumbai Zoo to crocodile behaviour studies on the Savitri River — where healthy populations of the vulnerable mugger crocodile nest and bask along the outskirts of Mahad — to bird counts at Phansad and biodiversity surveys across the city’s urban green spaces.
A postgraduate in Zoology (Oceanography), Umesh has trained in disaster management with the NDRF, taken part in crocodile and turtle censuses, and completed courses in entomology and field ecology. His specialities span urban nature, mugger crocodiles, birdwatching and zoo management, and he facilitates in four languages — English, Hindi, Marathi and Telugu — for groups of every age.
Umesh Avadootha’s Work with Mugger Crocodiles
His most unforgettable encounter unfolded in a single, split-second drama. While observing a mugger crocodile, an Ashy Prinia flitted into frame in front of his camera — and just as he was clicking away, a Shikra swept in and snatched the tiny bird clean out of the air. His spirit animal, fittingly, is the Greater Coucal: quiet, observant and often more present than people realise, calm and adaptable and deeply connected to its surroundings.
“No one will protect what they don’t care about; and no one will care about what they have never experienced.”
