Biologist, who worked with Born Free actors, no more

KOLKATA: Veteran wildlife biologist professor Ratan Lal Brahmachary, a pioneer of tiger pheromone studies in India, passed away in Kolkata in the early hours of Tuesday. He was 86. He died of pneumonia at a Dum Dum hospital where he was admitted on Saturday.
Brahmachary also gave up his body for science. Indian Statistical Institute professor Anjana Dewanji said: “He had donated his eyes and body for medical research.After paying our last respects to him at ISI, we handed over his body to the officials of R G Kar Hospital.”
Dewanji said he visited the institute even on last Tuesday. “He was doing research on plant nervous system,” she added.
Brahmachary had summarised his 50 years of research on pheromones in tigers and other big cats in the book ‘Neurobiology of Chemical Communication’. Pheromone is a secreted or excreted chemical factor that triggers a social response in members of the same species.
Conservationist and author Shubhobroto Ghosh said: “He was an astrophysicist by training and a student of Satyendra Nath Bose. He changed his field of study under the tutelage of ISI founder Prashantachandra Mahalanabish.”
Brahmachary was also the founding patron of Born free Foundation originated in 1984 as Zoo Check Campaign by actors Virginia McKenna and her husband Bill Travers.