LU hosts course on butterfly study
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The course was meant for students who want to pursue wildlife sciences as their career.
AMITA KANNAUJIA, Prof at LU
LUCKNOW: The Lucknow University now boasts of a group of students who can be called butterfly experts. They not only know how butterflies are named and photographed, and how their bright hued wings shimmer and change colours, but also the history of butterfly study in India.
A three-day training basic course in butterfly identification and taxonomy concluded at LU’s Institute for Wildlife Sciences on Saturday.
Now, the institute will be working to put into practice all the knowledge it accumulated on butterflies, moths, spiders etc., during the programme.
Students from different places -- Bihar, Gujarat, Delhi, Madhya Pradesh and some even from Nepal -- participated in the programme, said Amita Kannaujia, professor, biodiversity and wildlife conservation lab, zoology department, LU.
“We signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with Peter Smetacek, director, Butterfly Research Centre, Bhimtal, Uttarakhand. Another MoU was signed among the Institute for Wildlife Sciences, the Centre for Advanced Studies (ONGC Building), Lucknow University and the Turtle Survival Alliance Foundation, India,” she said.
The course was packed with informative lectures and practical sessions. On the first day of the programme, resource person Peter Smetacek took the participants through the history of butterfly study in India.
On the second day, a session was organised on specimen collection, taxonomy, nomenclature, curating butterflies and distinguishing between different butterfly families. The third day focused on how to preserve specimens. At the end of the programme, participants were given certificates and butterfly mugs as momentos.
“The course was meant for students who want to pursue wildlife sciences as their career. The course provided practical training on various wildlife themes including research and conservation,” said Kanaujia.
The programme was organised in collaboration with the biodiversity and wildlife conservation lab, zoology department, LU and the Butterfly Research Centre, Bhimtal.