DURRELL WILDLIFE CONSERVATION TRUST & MAURITIAN WILDLIFE FOUNDATION 

There may be no other conservationist credited with saving as many species as Carl Jones. As a pioneer, leader and hero for the natural world, he has truly changed the fate of animals on the brink of extinction. Much of Jones’ work has focused on the species of Mauritius, an island nation in the Indian Ocean, recognized as a global center of avian diversity. As a chief scientist for the Durrell Wildlife Conservation Trust and scientific director of the Mauritian Wildlife Foundation, he developed and led programs that resulted in some of the most striking animal population recoveries in the world, including the Mauritius kestrel — once the world’s rarest bird ­— echo parakeet and pink pigeon. He helped develop the first national park in Mauritius and championed the idea of “ecological replacement,” a conservation tactic in which species outside their historic range act as analogues to fulfill important ecological roles once held by extinct species.