Tejas Thackeray is the son of Maharashtra Chief Minister and Shiv Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray and his wife Rashmi Thackeray. He is also the younger brother of Yuva Sena chief and Worli MLA Aaditya Thackeray and grandson of Shiv Sena supremo, late Bal Thackeray
Unlike his grandfather, father, and brother, Tejas Thackeray has not forayed into active politics yet. Tejas first came into the limelight when the youngest Thackeray scion silently started doing his bit to Save Aarey. In 2015, Tejas visited the colony to photograph it and create awareness about the rare and obscure species present there.
In photo: Tejas Thackeray hugs his brother and Yuva Sena chief Aaditya Thackeray before the latter announced his nomination for the Maharashtra Assembly Elections.
In 2016, Tejas Thackeray, Dr SK Pati and Anil Khaire discovered five new species of freshwater crabs in the Sahyadri range in the Western Ghats. A research paper on their discovery was published in Zootaxa. One of the crabs was named after him and called Gubernatoriana Thackerayi.
The 24-year-old Thackeray is an avid photographer and a wildlife researcher like his father Uddhav Thackeray, who is well-known to be a wildlife enthusiast and photographer.
In photo: Tejas Thackeray and family offer prayers at Siddhivinayak Temple in Prabhadevi
While Aaditya was busy making his mark on the political stage, Tejas Thackeray carved a name for himself by discovering species among others and naming a few of them after the Thackeray clan.
In photo:'Gubernatoriana Thackerayi', which was found in Raghuveer Ghat by Tejas Thackeray and was named after he discovered it in 2016.
Two years later, in 2018, Tejas Thackeray discovered 11 new species and one new genus of freshwater crabs in the Western Ghats. The scientific research paper by him and the team of researchers was published in Zootaxa, New Zealand’s renowned international journal.
Post the discovery of 11 new species, while speaking to mid-day, Tejas Thackeray said he dedicated two species to Veteran wildlife conservationist and author Billy Arjan Singh and renowned naturalist and biologist Alfred Russell Wallace, as the two had inspired him to take up the task of wildlife conservation.
In photo: Tejas Thackeray and his brother Aaditya Thackeray pay homage to grandfather and Sena supremo, the late Bal Thackeray on his seventh death anniversary at Shivaji Park in Dadar.
Did you know? Besides the Gubernatoriana Thackerayi (the crab), there is also a new species of gecko which was discovered from Tamil Nadu in March this year. The Cnemaspis Thackerayi or Hemidactylus Thackerayi was named after Tejas in recognition of his contributions to natural history and systematic zoology.
In September 2019, a new species of snakes was discovered in the Western Ghats in Maharashtra and named after Tejas Thackeray for his contribution to the find. The species falls in the category commonly called as cat snakes and belongs to the genusBoiga.
In photo: Tejas Thackeray snapped with his family as they took part in the Ganesh Chaturthi celebrations held at the Ambani residence.
Unlike his father and brother, Tejas Thackeray is known for keeping a low-key profile, but off-late, the youngest Thackeray scion has been snapped at public events and social gatherings.
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