Quick Facts
Biography
Kongahage Anslem Lawrence de Silva (Sinhala: ඇන්ස්ලම් ද සිල්වා; born 1 August 1940) is a Sri Lankan biologist and herpetologist recognised as the father of modern herpetology in Sri Lanka. His career spanned for more than five decades; de Silva has contributed to the field of zoology with much research and numerous publications particularly on crocodiles, snakes and lizards.
De Silva is known for conservation of crocodiles in Sri Lanka. He is the regional chairman of the Crocodile Specialists Group of the IUCN, South Asia and Iran.
Personal life
He was born on 1 August 1940 in Matara. He completed education from St. Servatius College, Matara. Before entering the field of biology, de Silva was a renowned magician. He won two national awards at All Island Magic Competition and conducted massive shows from Matara to Jaffna. He also published 22 papers on magic. His son Panduka de Silva is also a naturalist where he worked in Andaman Islands on crocodiles.
Career
While at the school, he rescued a rat snake, which led him to move further in field of science. Then he started to rear few non-poisonous snakes, a baby saltwater crocodile, and a few sea turtles in his home, and villagers started calling him Hoony Mahaththaya (Mr Gecko) due to his frequent outings around the village to catch geckos as a food for snakes. At the age of 17, he read the book Snakes of Ceylon written by Frank Wall which induced him to start researching snakes throughout the country.
In 1964, he joined Faculty of Medicine, Peradeniya, as the museum technician of the Department of Public Health. He retired from Department of Community Medicine in 2000.
He is the founder and president of Amphibia and Reptile Research Organisation of Sri Lanka (ARROS), which he started in 1990. ARROS is the first NGO in Sri Lanka aimed at reptile conservation. Due to his enormous contribution, de Silva was appointed as the chairman for Declining Amphibian Populations Task Force in the World Conservation Union (now the IUCN) for Sri Lanka. In 2015, he worked as the co-chairman of the Amphibian Specialist Group of the World Conservation Union. He published more than 450 research publications on herpetofauna in Sri Lanka for last 50 years. He is the first author to publish a reptile guide with colored photographs. To create public awareness of reptiles and amphibians, de Silva published the Sri Lanka's first series of posters illustrated with colored photographs in 1990 and 2001.
De Silva organised many events at 4th World Herpetology Congress and World Crocodile Congress. In 1991, University of Peradeniya conferred a Master of Science degree for his contributions to the field of zoology. He also worked as a visiting lecturer at the Faculty of Veterinary Medicine and Animal Science, University of Peradeniya and Rajarata University of Sri Lanka.
Animals named after de Silva
- Calotes desilvai - an endemic lizard
- Falcaustra desilvai - a gecko parasite
- Cnemaspis anslemi - an endemic gecko
