Chiranjeevi Khanal

Chiranjeevi was born and grown up in Nepal, a country rich in ancient cultures and natural diversity.  He has been very passionate about wildlife from a young age and to follow his passion as a career, he joined the Institute of Forestry for Certificate Level in forestry continuing it to Bachelor of Science in Forestry, and a Master of Science in Natural Resources and Development.

He is a well-known conservationist in Nepal and has worked with the government and together with several organizations for wildlife research and conservation in his country. Most of his research focused on the distribution and ecology of different wildlife species and wildlife crime in western Nepal. Moreover, he runs conservation campaigns in different parts of country to motivate youth in conservation and has been working as a wildlife rescuer in Nepal.

His focus has been on striped hyaena research and conservation, hyena’s are one of the least studied species. Chiran represents the IUCN SSC Hyaena Specialist Group as a member from Nepal. Chiran was awarded with “Young Conservation Leader Award” by WWF Nepal in 2015.

He loves travelling and enjoys trekking in Himalayas of Nepal and this time he wants to explore Australia mainly in the forest and landscape around the Otways watching native mammals and birds of Australia. Chiran is very hopeful to multiply his knowledge in wildlife research and very excited to gain new experience in techniques for capture and marking of mammals, GPS collaring and genetic data collection during his internship at Conservation Ecology Centre.