The Prince of Wales has paid tribute to pioneering elephant conservationist Iain Douglas-Hamilton, who died aged 83 at his home in Nairobi on Monday.
Douglas-Hamilton spent his life studying and campaigning to protect African elephants, becoming a world-leading expert on their behaviour in the wild.
His groundbreaking research exposed the devastating effects of poaching - often at great risk to his own safety - and was instrumental in the banning of the international ivory trade.
Prince William praised the zoologist as a man who dedicated his life to conservation and whose life's work leaves lasting impact on our appreciation for, and understanding of, elephants.
The memories of spending time in Africa with him will remain with me forever, added Prince William, who is a royal patron for the African wildlife conservation charity, Tusk, of which Douglas-Hamilton was an ambassador.
The world has lost a true conservation legend today, but his extraordinary legacy will continue, the charity's founder Charles Mayhew said in a statement.
Born in 1942 to an aristocratic British family in Dorset, England, Douglas-Hamilton studied biology and zoology in Scotland and Oxford before moving to Tanzania to research elephant social behaviour.
It was there at Lake Manyara National Park that he began documenting every elephant he encountered, eventually becoming so familiar with the herds he could recognise them by the unique shapes of their ears and wrinkles on their skin.
Friend and fellow conservationist Jane Goodall, who died in October, featured in a documentary about his work, describing how he illustrated that elephants are capable of feelings akin to humans.
Douglas-Hamilton established Save the Elephants in 1993, dedicated to safeguarding the species and enhancing human understanding of their behaviour. His son-in-law and current CEO Frank Pope noted that Iain changed the future not just for elephants, but for huge numbers of people across the globe.
Throughout his career, Douglas-Hamilton faced numerous dangers including near-fatal encounters with elephants and poachers, yet he remained determined to raise awareness about the plight of these majestic animals. His legacy is a beacon of hope for human-elephant coexistence that he envisioned for the future.
