An event link will be shared via email the night before the session.
Rukshan Jayewardene’s early education was at the Royal College Colombo. In school, he learnt about animal diversity and biological evolution under the zoology curriculum, which fascinated and fired his imagination, making a lasting impression.
Working at the Dehiwala Zoo, by observation and experience, he learned much about animals, especially Leopards, which was to become a lifelong obsession. Between 1998 and 2019 Rukshan spent a total of over 1100 days observing and photographing leopards, predominantly in Yala, but in Wilpattu and Kumana as well. Over these 21 years, he stayed days at a time within parks, throughout the year tracking and watching leopards, except when parks closed for the drought.
Rukshan has an undergraduate degree in Anthropology from the University of Maryland at College Park and a post-graduate degree (MPhil.) in South Asian Archaeology from the University of Cambridge U.K. He is a founding trustee at the Leopard Trust (Est. 2002), a founder member and Chairman of the Wilderness and Protected Areas Foundation (Est.2005) a Director at the Environmental Foundation Limited (Est. 1981) and the Immediate Past President of the WNPS (Est. 1894).
