Reuben David
{{Short description|Indian zoologist (1912–1989)}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=March 2018}}
Reuben David (19 September 1912{{Cite news|url=http://estherdavid.com/reuben-david/|title=Reuben David (1912 -1989) - Esther David|work=Esther David|access-date=2017-09-19|language=en-US}} – 24 March 1989) was a zoologist and the founder of the Kankaria Zoo in Ahmedabad, Gujarat, India.
Biography
He was born into a Bene Israel Jewish family in Ahmedabad. He was the youngest son of Joseph David.{{Cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=-qHiAAAAMAAJ&q=Reuben+David+kankaria |title=Gujarat State Gazetteer |publisher=Director, Government Print., Stationery and Publications, Gujarat State |year=1989 |pages=342 |language=en}} He was a self-taught veterinarian. He was invited by the Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation in 1951 to create a zoo in the city.{{cite web|url=http://indiatoday.intoday.in/story/animal-instinct/1/135113.html|title=Animal instinct|work=intoday.in|date=13 April 2011 }} He also founded the Kankaria Zoo (now Kamala Nehru Zoological Garden), the Chacha Nehru Balvatika (Children's Park) and the Natural History Museum, later named after him.{{cite news |title=Ahmedabad zoo architect Reuben David remembered on 100th birth anniversary |url=http://archive.indianexpress.com/news/ahmedabad-zoo-architect-reuben-david-remembered-on-100th-birth-anniversary/1005223/|work=The Indian Express|date=2012-09-20}}{{cite book |last1=Thomas |first1=Amelia |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=jf7J5gObJ8IC&pg=PT70 |title=The Zoo on the Road to Nablus |date=11 January 2008 |publisher=PublicAffairs |isbn=9781586486587}} He had lost his speech due to cancer. He also served as an advisor for Sundervan in Ahmedabad and Indroda Park in Gandhinagar.
He co-authored The Asiatic Lion (1991) with M. A. Rashid who was a retired chief conservator of forests under Government of Gujarat.
He was the Fellow of the Zoological Society (FZS). He was honoured with the Padma Shri by the Government of India in 1975.{{cite web|url=http://archive.indianexpress.com/news/amc-to-mark-100th-birth-anniversary-of-zoologist-reuben-david-today/1004742/|title=AMC to mark 100th birth anniversary of zoologist Reuben David today|publisher=Indian Express|access-date=2014-02-24}}
Australian anthropologist Colin Groves discovered the prehistoric warthog in 1981 and named the Central Asian boar after him, Sus scrofa davidi.{{cite news |last=John |first=Paul |date=2019-09-28 |title=Reuben David's legacy crumbling into oblivion |website=The Times of India |url=https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/ahmedabad/reuben-davids-legacy-crumbling-into-oblivion/articleshow/71342556.cms}}{{Cite book |last=Groves |first=Colin P. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=yYQ_AAAAYAAJ&q=Reuben+David+kankaria |title=Ancestors for the Pigs: Taxonomy and Phylogeny of the Genus Sus |date=1981 |publisher=Department of Prehistory, Research School of Pacific Studies, Australian National University |isbn=978-0-909596-75-0 |pages=38 |language=en}}
Personal life
Author Esther David is his daughter.
References
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{{Padma Shri Award Recipients in Medicine}}
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Category:Scientists from Ahmedabad
Category:Recipients of the Padma Shri in medicine
Category:20th-century Indian zoologists
Category:20th-century Indian Jews
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