I did some good works but that is not enough for being a successful zoologist or wildlife biologist: Dr. Md. Mofizul Kabir

 

Dr. Md. Mofizul kabir, former Professor, Department of Zoology, Jahangirnagar University was present at tea with Dr. Bibhuti Bhushan Mitra’s online biology interview. He has many experiences in the field of wildlife biology, has many research articles and books.

Bibhuti Bhushan Mitra: What is your educational background?

Dr. Md. Mofizul Kabir : As a Zoologist my academic journey started from Jahangirnagar University. I have completed my B.Sc. in Zoology from Jahangirnagar University. Then I completed my M.Sc. in wildlife ecology, management and conservation biology from the same university. I have completed my PhD from Cambridge University, UK and the main focus of my PhD thesis was behavioural ecology of two sympatric primate species in the semi-evergreen forest of Bangladesh.

Bibhuti Bhushan Mitra: As zoologist and wildlife biologist, what do you think, what training courses or extra education are needed to improve?
Dr. Md. Mofizul Kabir : As a zoologist and wildlife biologist I think the curriculum of the students should be more applied. Moreover, students should involve in zoology or wildlife related volunteer work. It will make them a good zoologist or wildlife biologist. In addition, this opportunity will help them for building up their communication skills, critical thinking and teamwork skills. In addition, students who want to be a wildlife biologist should get proper training for wildlife study, like how to survey, how to observe behaviour, how to study monitoring and how to analyze data. Without proper training, nobody can be a good wildlife biologist.

Bibhuti Bhushan Mitra: What are you studying right now?
Dr. Md. Mofizul Kabir : I always like to study on primates especially their behaviour and how they coexist with other animals in an ecosystem. Moreover, primate society is very interesting and some of their behaviour is almost similar to human society that makes me surprised. For example, aunting behaviour where other members of a primate group help the mother monkey by taking care of her new born baby when she is taking food. This is just like human society. I am also doing research on herpetofauna because very little work has been done on these species in our country.



Bibhuti Bhushan Mitra: What types of questions are trying to solve in your research.
Dr. Md. Mofizul Kabir : Wildlife is a very important part in an ecosystem. If we do not know the diversity of the wildlife species, their lifecycle, behaviour and the surrounding habitats, we cannot conserve them; more specifically said we cannot save the ecosystem of that particular region. Keeping this in my mind, I tried to find out the diversity of wildlife species in a particular region and also trying to observe their behaviour and their habitats. My main focus is how different wildlife species coexist in a particular area by minimising their competitions. This particular information will help to develop an effective plan for conservation.

Bibhuti Bhushan Mitra: What do you think, what are the challenges in a wildlife field?
Dr. Md. Mofizul Kabir : In wildlife field there are a lot of problems. First of all in our society like in Bangladesh, people think that studying and conserving wildlife is wastage of time and money. Many people do not care about the wildlife, their habitats, like forests, and their surroundings and feel as so a better usage is to transform the area into agricultural land. In addition, the people who are living adjacent to the forest are cutting down trees to make way for farming. Moreover, to save their rice and other agricultural products they kill wildlife. For example, land grabbers in different parts of Bangladesh are grabbing forest land where elephants live and transforming these forested areas into agricultural land. To protect their area and agricultural products they established electric fences which harmed the nearby elephant population and sometimes they also killed elephants which are published in different national newspapers. So it is a big challenge to save both elephants and their habitat from these land grabbers. On the other hand, elephants and other mammals destroy human’s crop, property and sometimes injured and killed people. To mitigate these conflicts it is a big challenge. Secondly, development works in the forested area is a big problem in our country, because it initiates the fragmentation which ultimately declines the forest. Lastly, budget is a big problem for doing research on wildlife. As mentioned before, wildlife is not considered as a high priority in Bangladesh, so getting funding to study and implement further measures is difficult.

Bibhuti Bhushan Mitra: What do you think what are the misconception in wildlife biology?
Dr. Md. Mofizul Kabir : There are many misconceptions in our country about wildlife biology. Most of the cases when people think about a wildlife biologist, they visualize an images of researcher watching animals and collecting some samples. But this is only a small part of the research, they do not think that wildlife biologists are studying wild species by using scientific methods, spent all their hours to collect data, analyze them and write a scientific research paper. Another misconception is that there is no job for wildlife biologist. Now a days, many job opportunities has been created for wildlife biologist e.g. in forest department, NGOs, international organizations etc.

Bibhuti Bhushan Mitra: What are your inspirations to study wildlife?
Dr. Md. Mofizul Kabir : When I was a boy, I read many books on adventure, traveling etc. which inspired me to be a wildlife biologist. But my main inspiration was when I was in undergrad. We visited different forests of Bangladesh and the fascinating wildlife and their ecological system inspired me to be a wildlife biologist.

Bibhuti Bhushan Mitra: Can you tell me about your current research?
Dr. Md. Mofizul Kabir : I like to work on primates and currently I am focusing on them.

Bibhuti Bhushan Mitra: How do you think about human wildlife interactions?
Dr. Md. Mofizul Kabir : Human and wildlife has both positive and negative interaction. Wildlife is getting benefitted from human beings in many ways. For example, humans are establishing wildlife sanctuaries, national parks for wildlife species, even when human does farming or agriculture, it is also a good food sources for many wildlife species. On the contrary they are also getting loss by killing, destruction of habitat etc. But now a days conflict between humans and animals is severe especially in Bangladesh. Most of the wildlife habitats are altering through agricultural land, development work and other ways. So, many wildlife species are losing their homes and ultimately wiping out from their habitats, become vulnerable and at the end going to extinction. Conflicts arise when many of these animals enter human habitants for food and humans want to protect their food and life. Human-wildlife conflict is now a global issue and it inflicts direct and indirect consequences of people and animal. So its mitigation is now a top priority.

Bibhuti Bhushan Mitra: Can I tell you, you are successful zoologist and wildlife biologist? Why or why not?
Dr. Md. Mofizul Kabir : No, no that’s not true. It is a long process to be a successful zoologist and wildlife biologist. I am still learning. I did some good works but that is not enough for being a successful zoologist or wildlife biologist.

Bibhuti Bhushan Mitra: Why do you like to work as zoologist and wildlife biologist?
Dr. Md. Mofizul Kabir : I am passionate about wildlife. Their behaviour is so interesting that makes me fascinated. When I was travelling to different ecological zones of Bangladesh and other countries as well, I found the habitats of wildlife are continuously shrinking which was upsetting. These thinking drives me to be a zoologist more specifically wildlife biologist.

Bibhuti Bhushan Mitra: What are your future steps in wildlife conservation?
Dr. Md. Mofizul Kabir : Awareness is very important for any conservation work followed by good policy implementation and monitoring. For the future steps in wildlife conservation, my suggestion would be buildup awareness among the people of Bangladesh. Develop a good conservation and management plan for wildlife and their habitats.

Bibhuti Bhushan Mitra: How does your work in wildlife benefit the society?
Dr. Md. Mofizul Kabir : We are protecting the whole ecosystem through conserving the wildlife and their habitats. It is a great benefit for the society. Moreover, students are learning how to conserve wildlife, their habitats and ecosystems which is ultimately going for the betterment of the future generations.

Bibhuti Bhushan Mitra: What is your memorable work?
Dr. Md. Mofizul Kabir : All my works with wildlife is my memorable work, but when I was working with Phayre’s langur and capped langur in my PhD work at Rema-Kalenga Wildlife Sanctuary, I was really amazed when I saw new born baby of both Phayre’s and capped langur for the first time. It was really a memorable moment.

Bibhuti Bhushan Mitra: What advice would you give students who are looking to go into field work?
Dr. Md. Mofizul Kabir : My advice to those students, who are going to work in the field, must be dedicated and hard working. Without hard work nothing will be achieved in the field of wildlife.