
Field of Study:
Conservation
Home Institution in the U.S.:
University of California San Diego, San Diego, CA
Host Institution in Nepal:
University of Colombo, Colombo
Start Month/Year in Nepal:
December 2024
Duration of Grant:
Nine months
Sateesh Venkatesh
Sateesh Venkatesh is a conservation biologist who studies human–wildlife conflict. Specifically, his work aims to understand the complex relationship between elephants and subsistence farmers in Sri Lanka. Through his work, he aims to demonstrate how a greater understanding of both human and wildlife perspectives is essential to developing mutually beneficial sustainable solutions. Sateesh is working on his PhD at the University of California, San Diego. He received his master’s degree in animal behavior and conservation from Hunter College. From a young age, he has been inspired by conservationists and photographers who form deep connections with both wildlife and the communities that coexist with them.
Sateesh’s Fulbright-National Geographic research project is investigating the behaviors of individual elephants when entering an altered human landscape. The goal is to see how elephants change and alter their behaviors in response to anthropogenic and ecological habitat changes. Specifically, he is attempting to understand the limiting factors that inhibit or delay an elephant from entering human land. If there is cooperation between elephants, how is this communicated? How do different types of human habitation and crops affect the frequency and time that elephants spend on human land?