IUCN mourns the loss of Iain Douglas-Hamilton

“Iain Douglas-Hamilton was a pioneer in African elephant research and a passionate advocate for their conservation. His contributions to the founding of the African elephant database and to the IUCN SSC African Elephant Specialist Group are legion. We have lost a great conservation leader of the SSC and the elephants have lost their best ambassador and friend,” said Vivek Menon, Chair of the IUCN Species Survival Commission and Chair of the SSC Asian Elephant Specialist Group from 2015 to 2025.

Dr Douglas-Hamilton supported the formation of the IUCN SSC African Elephant Specialist Group, serving as its Chair between 1975 and 1982 and as a longstanding member in the subsequent decades. He was IUCN’s Regional Representative for East Africa from 1979 to 1983, and Regional Advisor for East Africa between 1983 and 1988.

Following his studies at Oxford University, Dr Iain Douglas-Hamilton began his career conducting the first in-depth scientific study of elephant social behaviour in Tanzania's Lake Manyara National Park. He was among the first to attract attention to the slaughter of elephants supplying the ivory trade in the 1970s.

In 1993, Dr Douglas-Hamilton founded Save the Elephants, an organisation dedicated to securing a future for elephants and their habitats and to encouraging peaceful coexistence between humans and elephants. 

He continued to provide key research findings about elephants to the international community, and to raise awareness of the ivory crisis, throughout his career.

Dr Douglas-Hamilton received numerous awards in recognition of his contribution towards conservation, including the Indianapolis Prize in 2010. He was appointed a Commander of the British Empire in 2015.

You can read a personal tribute to Dr Iain Douglas Hamilton by IUCN Species Survival Commission Chair Vivek Menon here.