Zoological Survey of India Collecting Fauna Samples From 16 Regions Amidst the Pandemic

Jenisha Jernis

12th October 2020

ZSI has collected fauna samples with all necessary precautions

Sources: Business-standard.com

Zoology Survey of India has managed to collect about thousand specimens of various species from different zones of the country amidst Pandemic and the restrictions — as the collection was started soon after the unlock phase began said Kailash Chandra — ZSI Director on 12th October here in Kolkata.

Kolkata: Despite the constraints of the COVID-19 restrictions, thousands of animal specimens have been collected from 16 zones of the country, a senior official said on Monday, according to News18. Also, a sample list of stored animals is being prepared. As the process of unlocking has begun from 16 regions including Andhra Pradesh, West Bengal and Chhattisgarh, samples of different species are being collected.

Kailash Chandra — ZSI Director, informed that the sample could not be collected in the containment areas but the ZSI process was not halted during the lockdown because as soon as the unlock phase began even ZSI started its work, according to News18.

In the past 104 years, collection of animal specimens has never been stopped. ZSI has always managed to get numerous samples of various specimens about thousands per year till date. Kailash Chandra was quoted by News18 saying that “Even this year we managed to collect it as we started to do it in the midst of a lockdown amidst Pandemic”. Since 1916 ZSI has been recording the existence and diversity of different species and also documented information on different animals and their distribution in the country. Records of various animal models and other specimens collected in 2020 will be published next year.

Chandra Said such a document was released on October 9 which had the list of all the newly collected fauna from different regions of the country. “The publication of animal discoveries 2019 is illustrious in the history of Indian faunal discoveries by ZSI and it portrays the new addition in biodiversity account in Indian context”, according to FaunaOfIndia.

As per the Official’s statement the document which was released this year on Friday was collected in 2019 has recorded 360 new species 4 sub-species and also 4 fossil species. Documents like these have been published since 2007 by Zoology Survey of India.

News Sources: prajavanitv, Business-standard, FaunaOfIndia, News18

Edited by Shreya Gupta and Aditya Das