Tony Pooley

Tony Charles (Mashesha) Pooley (1938–2004) was a South African naturalist, award-winning conservationist and one of the world's foremost authorities on the Nile crocodile.

Several films were made about his work, including The Ndumu Story, and the BBC's award-winning Gently Smiling Jaws, narrated by Sir David Attenborough.

As a consultant, Pooley worked with numerous film crews from the US, UK, France, Germany, South Africa and elsewhere, including the BBC Natural History Unit and the Discovery Channel.

He is survived by his wife, Elsa,[7] an artist who illustrated Mashesha and has published definitive guides on South African plant life[8] and three sons: Simon (who also works in crocodile conservation; specifically human-wildlife conflict and coexistence), Justin (senior environmental, social, and corporate governance (ESG) with the IFC) and Thomas (musicologist: ethnomusicology and music cognition).

In addition to numerous scientific papers, articles in popular magazines and newspapers, and the poster The Tony Pooley Guide to the Nile Crocodile and other African Crocodiles (with John Visser) Tony also wrote Kwazulu/Natal Wildlife Destinations (A Guide to the Game Reserves, Resorts, Private Nature Reserves, Ranches and wildlife Areas of Kwazulu/Natal) with an introduction by Ian Player, (Southern Book Publishers, 1995).