caption death_date death_place birth_place citizenship fields birth_date image article_title name alma_mater
hussain in 2008 30 december 2009 karkala karkala , near mangalore india ornithology 13 august 1944 sahussain.jpg s. a. hussain
 s. a. hussain sri bhuvanendra college
s. a. hussain

syed abdulla hussain -lrb- 13 august 1944 -- 30 december 2009 -rrb- was an indian ornithologist .
he is best known for the work he undertook at the bombay natural history society -lrb- bnhs -rrb- along with salim ali .
a species of frog `` nyctibatrachus hussaini '' from kudremukh near his home , was named after him but the species name later became embroiled in controversy .
hussain was born in karkala , near mangalore -lrb- then a part of the madras presidency -rrb- where his father was a noted lawyer .
his early education was at basti mission school and obtained a university degree in science from sri bhuvanendra college at karkala .
he applied for a field research position in the bird migration study project of the bombay natural history society and although he had no formal education in zoology , salim ali found him very observant and accepted him .
hussain accompanied ali on numerous expeditions and later conducted surveys on his own .
hussain became assistant curator of the bnhs in 1979 , a senior scientist from 1985 to 1990 and then a deputy director of research until 1992 .
he later moved to malaysia where he headed the asian wetland bureau .
he was also briefly the vice-chairman of birdlife international .
in 1974 , he was part of a group that went in search of the forest owlet at a locality falsely claimed by richard meinertzhagen .
after retiring from work , he moved back to live in karkala , where he started the biodiversity initiative trust .
the organization worked locally , particularly for conservation of the kudremukh region .
in 2003 , he suggested a plan for the conversion of the kudremukh iron ore company township into a biodiversity research station as mining in this biodiversity hotspot had been stopped by the indian government .
he died of a heart attack at his home on 30 december 2009 .
