04 Nov 2026 - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}
For Dr. Ruchira ‘Ru’ Somaweera, zoologist, evolutionary biologist and herpetologist, getting up close and personal with wild species has been a childhood passion. Today, apart from his academic career, Dr. Somaweera dedicates much of his time to explore unknown territories and educate masses about different wildlife species, their habitats, and behavioural patterns and so on. Dr. Somaweera is also a National Geographic Explorer and the creator of ‘Ru Goes Wild’, a YouTube channel dedicated to wildlife education. In a candid interview with the Daily Mirror, Dr. Somaweera spoke about why he chose this particular path, the need for science-based conservation, knowledge gaps pertaining to crocodiles in Sri Lanka, unforgettable experiences in the wild and why coexistence is the only way forward.
Dr Ruchira Somaweera (Image courtesy of National Geographic)
Dr. Ru holding a baby Galapagos giant tortoise
Q : How do you identify yourself -- as an evolutionary biologist or behavioural ecologist? I wear several hats. Academically, my field of research is behavioural ecology; basically understanding how animals adapt to a changing world, be it urbanisation, climate change, or invasive species. It’s broadly looking at how animals are confronting challenges in a changing world and what we can do to help. Within that, I primarily focus on reptiles.
“Sometimes I identify myself as a herpetologist but within herpetology, I look at behavioural ecology. Evolutionary biology is part of that – basically how things change overtime. There have been a few projects where I look at how things have changed overtime when it comes to impacts on animal behaviour. At the moment, I’m not in a very strict research position, and my full time job is in environmental advisory. I’m the national executive for WSP, which is one of the largest consultancies in the world.
“Before that I, worked for the global consultancy Stantec as the Head of Ecology for Asia-Pacific. I now sit as an adjunct professor at Murdoch University and I have my research arm. The problem with research is that a lot of them don’t translate into action. I was fed up with that, and I left full time academia. But now I can implement things, I have a say in policy, influence governments and corporates on environmental management. Personally I find it more rewarding.
Q : Let’s talk about science-based conservation. In the Sri Lankan context, do these work together or separately?
Throughout the world there’s a separation – it’s not a Sri Lankan thing. For many governments conservation is not a prime focus. Especially in third world or developing countries, governments have bigger issues to tackle than wildlife conservation. This is understandable; people’s safety, people feeding, livelihoods, and income are bigger problems than wildlife conservation. The focus of a system for wildlife conservation depends on financial stability and many other things.
“We can’t expect what Australia does to be done in Sri Lanka. They are very different systems altogether. In systems like Australia where I’m heavily involved in, you have much more science integrated into conservation. A lot of conservation decisions are very much science-driven rather than political agendas. However, it happens around the world. I work in Asia-Pacific countries where it is even not so much as Sri Lanka. It’s a spectrum. However, there’s a huge need for decisions to be science-driven rather than political driven.
“When it comes to many development projects in this part of the world, first the decision is taken to go ahead with the project and then the environment follows up. That is a change that’s very much needed. The situation in Sri Lanka is that we have very capable scientists and there’s a lot of good science happening. But whether it translates into actions is a different thing altogether.
“A lot of scientists don’t communicate their science to end users and regulators. You publish a paper in a scientific journal and that’s the end of it. They don’t have the tools, needs and experience sometimes to take it to the people that matter. A lot of these regulators also don’t have much of a science background either. They take decisions based on political or other agendas. There’s that mismatch. It’s an ongoing issue and Sri Lanka by no means is alone in that.
Q : Based on your work with crocodiles, what do you think about the protection we have for crocodiles in Sri Lanka?
We really don’t have much of a standardised idea about how many crocodiles are there in the country. The issue is that we can always come up with numbers. I’m part of the IUCN crocodile specialist group – we have estimations and very few standardised proper surveys. One of the biggest knowledge gaps in Sri Lanka is that we don’t know how many crocodiles live, even to manage. Recently it has gained attention on social media because crocodiles turn up in areas where they didn’t use to be. Multiple reasons are associated with it; one is that there’s more protection and less hunting throughout the world. Recently we did a global assessment on crocodiles and, since legal protection, there’s no haphazard hunting. Obviously there’s killing of animals and it’s very different to commercial hunting. Since commercial hunting is not rampant in many parts of the world now, crocodile populations are doing better than they did a few decades back, in most parts of the world.
Q : Does that mean Sri Lanka doesn’t have a human-crocodile conflict?
“I don’t think Sri Lanka has a human-crocodile conflict. It’s a mega predator and obviously it’s going to eat you if you’re in the wrong place. It’s not a conflict. It’s a mega predator feeding thinking that you are prey. That’s not a conflict per se. But crocodile deaths are not uncommon in Sri Lanka. People kill them as a precaution, preventing future attacks, sometimes due to sheer misunderstanding. It’s a predator sharing space. Drowning in nets is common, especially in tanks in the dry zone, but none of those are recorded.
“A crocodile attack can be deadly, and it’s the same with shark attacks. Throughout the world, less than 10 people die from shark attacks. But when it happens it becomes big news. We don’t need to over-exaggerate something that’s not there. But the threat is real. The number of people dying from crocodile attacks is negligible when compared to how many people die from snake bites or mosquito-borne diseases, insect stings and so on. But there’s a massive knowledge gap when it comes to a standardised survey over the years. Australia is leading in that space and so are some Asian countries such as Indonesia, Malaysia. We have done some haphazard surveys in the Nilwala river ecosystem and so on.
“This is something I want to kick off. I’m planning to put a proposal to the Department of Wildlife Conservation on a standardised monitoring programme that we can implement in few hotspots. Nilwala River is a topic now and there are crocodile tours as well. So it’s a great place to have an understanding of how these things change over the years. At the moment we don’t have objective science in Sri Lanka to tell the population status of crocodiles. We have estimates. The risk of crocodile attacks – while it’s there and is very true – when you put it in context it’s not a massive issue. The number of crocodiles dying from human attacks is underestimated rather than the other way round.
Q : Certain reptile species such as the Dumbara horn lizard are vulnerable to wildlife trafficking. Is Sri Lanka becoming a hub for wildlife trafficking?
I deny it. We need to put things in perspective. If we go down the path saying wildlife trafficking is a major threat to Sri Lankan wildlife, at least reptiles, there’s no objective evidence whatsoever to prove that. In Indonesia, wildlife trafficking happens in thousands. But trafficking one or two animals – while it shouldn’t have happened in the first place and animals bred in captivity are not a threat to a local species. It is very immature to think so. The threat definitely is there. Dumbara species and other endemic agamids such as Cophotis lizards have popped up. I have seen a lot of hype on this. But given the extent of wildlife trafficking in other parts of the world, this is a small scale thing. We have enough rules. Millions of people go in and out of this country. There’s a possibility that before the Fauna and Flora Protection Ordinance was in place, there was no rule about taking animals back and forth. So there’s a possibility that some of these animals are captive bred animals from things that were taken back in the past.
“The pet trade has been happening for centuries. Germany is a hub and it has a massive wildlife trade fair in the world. I know that a lot of scientists go there to get animals that are almost impossible to be collected in the wild. There’s no evidence to show that the trade happening now is going to diminish a population of animals in Sri Lanka. But it is definitely something that requires attention. The problem is that once something leaves the country we have no say about it.
Q : Your wildlife videos became a sensation in no time. How is the feedback you have received from the Sri Lankan audience?
I’m extremely grateful and heartfelt. Why I started it was a comment I saw on a post. I was holding an alligator at Everglades and there was a comment in Sinhala which said; “I grew up watching Animal Planet or Discovery, and I always see a white man going round the world catching animals. But I never thought our people can do this.” It was very impactful. So I wanted to prove that we too, could do this. You don’t need a million followers to have some impact.
“The other plus point is how the authorities are using these materials to get a broader reach. The problem with most of these documentaries is that it had been a journalist who had presented them and not a scientist. And it had been conservative. I want to do something raw and authentic while in the field. I keep the content raw. I think the biggest impact has been that it is in Sinhala and it’s relatable. There’s no shortage of good documentaries in English. There’s plenty of content. But there’s a big shortage of Sinhala content. My package is bit different because I want to show what has happened elsewhere in the world in Sinhala for Sri Lankans. That is what is unique about it. The feedback indeed has been heartwarming.
Q : Could you share some unforgettable experiences while in the field?
The more the number of times I’ve been bitten by animals the more it shows the amount of experience! But there are good scientists who haven’t been bitten by animals. One unforgettable experience was getting bitten by a crocodile in Bangladesh. I had the experience of going to a village hospital, staying overnight, having to go on a push cycle for almost half a day to reach the next town and it was an experience unto itself. It gives you so much insight to life in another country. I’ve had my fair share of animal encounters. Recently we dove in Australia with some tiger sharks. But to be that close to a gigantic animal face to face is very rare. But it also shows that a lot of these things don’t harm you.
Q : With all these experiences, what have the wilds taught you?
Hardly any animal is dangerous if you leave it alone. We don’t need to remove a snake or a crocodile every time we see it. Just leave them alone. But it’s easier said than done. If there’s a thith polanga (Daboia russelii) in your backyard the natural instinct would be to remove it because there could be children around and it’s understandable. But going forward, what we need to learn is coexistence than control. It’s inevitable. The sooner we as a society realise that, the better it is. Coexistence is the only way forward than control. We can’t control nature. We are a tiny part of it. The other thing I realised is that there’s no shortage of science. The shortage is using that scientific knowledge into management. That’s very much applicable for Sri Lanka. We have a lot of knowledge in this country and it’s now time to listen to scientists, scientists working closely with regulators. It has to come from both sides. It’s not a one-sided game. As humans, as general public we need to be more mindful about coexistence and as scientists we need to communicate more, and as regulators we need to listen to science more.”
Posing alongside a giant lizard in Florida
All the content on this website is copyright protected and can be reproduced only by giving the due courtesy to 'dailymirror.lk' Copyright © 2004 Wijeya Newspapers Ltd.
Loading comments…