Port Blair, June 11, 2015: The scientists of the Zoological Survey of India (ZSI) have discovered 176 new species in the year 2014-15. This has been disclosed by Dr K.Venkataramanan, Director of the Kolkata based 100 years old premier research institute. Addressing the inaugural session of the three day-National Workshop on “Lesser Known Marine Animals of India” organized by the Port Blair chapter of the Zoological Survey of India at its premises today as part of its centenary year celebrations, he said that the prospects of finding more species are very bright as many areas are yet to be fully explored. He told the gathering of researchers at the workshop that the ZSI is in the process of introducing a smartphone Apps that is being developed by the National Informatics Centre (NIC) with which scientists or public can take a photograph of any living being which they think are possibly new or lesser known and send it to t he Zoological Survey of India server through the NIC’s smartphone Apps. When they send the photos, the software of the ZSI will compare it with the existing database of animals and send the details about the animal in the photograph to the sender if it is already known. If no data is available about the species, then the scientists of the ZSI
could go to the area from where it was reported, study the creature and categorize them as per the international taxonomic norms.
Dr Venkataramanan said that the Andaman and Nicobar Islands is an important biodiversity hotspot and the prospects of finding out more marine species which are unknown or lesser known is more. Even when the neighbouring countries are witnessing decline in the number of species, there is a remarkable increase in the faunal species in India, especially in areas like the Islands, Western Ghats, Himalayan Ranges, West Bengal, North Eastern States, Gujarat and the Eastern Ghats. He also wanted networking among all the zoologists belonging to various research institutes so that duplication of works could be avoided and the precious national resources could be saved. Capacity building among the scientists is another area where more focus should be given, he insisted.
Delivering the chief guest’s address, the Principal Chief Conservator of Forests (Wild Life), Mr GN Sinha said that the Forests Department of Andaman and Nicobar Islands and the ZSI are complementary to each other in their works. Pointing out to the loss of heritage wealth in the past due to lack of awareness among the people, he said the citizens need to be informed about preservation of their history, its monuments and natural wealth and to keep them from extinction. More scientific exploratory works are needed in the Islands as many living things are yet to be studied and categorized, he said. Lesser known animals of today may possibly play crucial role in giving extracts for making medicines that may help in curing even incurable diseases tomorrow, Mr Sinha observed. More number of brighter students all over the world are now choosing basic sciences as their career and therefore in India too, many bright students may be available for research on basic and natural sciences in future, and innovations are possible more with advancements in basic sciences than with applied sciences, he remarked.
Dr C.Raghunathan, Officer-in-Charge of the ZSI, Port Blair, Dr Tripthi Bannerjee, Head of Office of the ZSI, Kolkata, Dr S.Dam Roy, Director, CIARI and research scholars from various parts of India participated in the event.
