Doha: Six-year-old Doha resident Padmanabhan Nair can identify over 100 species of dinosaurs and has set a new record for identifying the maximum number of species in various book of records, with his eyes now on the Guinness Book of World Records.
The standard one student of Birla Public School has set a record for identifying most dinosaurs (41 species) in one minute at the Limca Book of Records and the World Record Certification, and another two for naming maximum species of dinosaurs (97 species in 5 minutes and 42 seconds) in the Asia Book of Records and India Book of Records.
It all started in September 2019, when an aunt, Deepa Sreekumar, gifted him a set of various books about universe, space, nature and animals on his fifth birthday. One of those books featured two pages on dinosaurs which grabbed his attention.
"He would often pick that book and learn to name the dinosaurs. By December he knew all the names and the features of the dinosaur species in that book. He would ask me to show YouTube videos of the same," says his mother Jyoti Lakshmi.
A maths teacher by profession, Jyoti left her job after Padmanabhan was born and encouraged the boy's interest.
"I had no clue about the various species of the reptile and so made a video of the names he was saying and sent them to Deepa. She told me that he was naming them all correctly and to get him more books and show him more videos on it," says Jyoti.
By March, it was work from home for his father and there were limited options to entertain the child, so Jyoti started pinning printouts of the various dinosaurs in her house.
"He would identify these animals from the videos and books and to check if he was naming them correctly. I added the names on the printouts in Malayalam. I started with ten, then had 20 prints and now the house is full of over 100 types of dinosaur species," she adds.
Jyoti tried to get him to learn art, music, games such as sudoku and rubix cube, but none could hold his interest for long except for the dinosaurs.
"He would want me to record his videos of naming dinosaurs and send them to his father when his office started. One such video was seen by a colleague who suggested sending the boy's names for the record book,” says Jyoti.
A professional at Teyseer, Padmnabhan's father Jayaprakash then started the procedure for the India Book of Records. "I approached the India Book of Records and the Asia Book of Records and when we got the record in September, I decided to approach the Limca Book of Records. Limca did not have any category for children below 12 years and so they suggested a memory challenge for him to see how many he can name in one minute.
With two timekeepers and two witnesses, Padmanabhan attempted this challenge at Indian Cultural Centre where 112 species were pinned to the board and he identified 41 species in a minute," says Jayaprakash.
Hailing from Kerala in the southern state of India, Jayaprakash and Jyoti have approached the Guinness Book of Records and are waiting for details on the process to set a record there. Meanwhile, Padmanabhan is busy with his online classes and in his free time continues to be immersed in the world of dinosaurs.
