Indian Wildlife Club Forum

She spent most of her short life working on turtles and there is a small memorial to her right next to the turtle pond at the Madras Crocodile Bank.

Viji (as Vijaya was called) was India’s first woman herpetologist when such a career was unknown in this country. In 2006, 19 years later, her name was formally given to the cane turtle that she spent so much of her time studying. Herpetologists analysed the DNA of Reiner’s now-dead turtles and recently re-named the turtle Vijayachelys silvatica in her honour.

Read more about this remarkable woman who made a difference to wildlife at the following link

http://www.sanctuaryasia.com/sanctmagazine/archivedetail.php?id=775