Dr. Iain Douglas-Hamilton, CBE (1942 – 2025)

Founder & Senior Scientist

Dr. Iain Douglas-Hamilton, CBE (1942 – 2025)

Founder & Senior Scientist

Dr Iain Douglas-Hamilton was one of the world’s foremost authorities on African elephants and a pioneering force in elephant conservation. He carried out the first in-depth scientific study of elephant social behaviour in the wild at Tanzania’s Lake Manyara National Park at just 23, and later received a DPhil in zoology from the University of Oxford. His research transformed our understanding of elephant society and laid the foundations for modern elephant behavioural science.

When the elephants he studied began to be slaughtered for ivory, Iain became a leading advocate for their protection. He was instrumental in exposing the scale of the ivory poaching crisis, documenting the loss of more than half of Africa’s elephants in the decade leading up to the 1989 international ban on ivory trade. In 1993, he founded Save the Elephants to secure a future for wild elephants through science, habitat protection and coexistence with people. His pioneering use of GPS tracking and aerial surveys revolutionised elephant monitoring and became standard conservation tools.
During a renewed poaching crisis that killed an estimated 100,000 elephants between 2010 and 2012, Iain again helped lead global action, including testimony before the U.S. Senate in 2012. His science-based advocacy contributed to worldwide domestic ivory market closures, most notably China’s in 2018. In 2013, he co-founded the Elephant Crisis Fund with the Wildlife Conservation Network; by 2025 it had supported 120 partners in 44 countries with over USD $40 million for more than 500 projects.

Iain and his wife Oria co-authored the award-winning books Among the Elephants (1975) and Battle for the Elephants(1992). His life and work featured in numerous documentaries, including The Secret Life of Elephants (BBC, 2008) and A Life Among Elephants (Maramedia, 2024). His many honours included the Order of the Golden Ark (1988), OBE (1992), the Indianapolis Prize (2010), CBE (2015) and the Esmond B. Martin Royal Geographical Society Prize (2025).
Iain sadly passed away in Nairobi on December 9, 2025, at the age of 83. His vision and life’s work live on through Save the Elephants and the people he inspired.