Tamil webinars planned to mark World Wildlife Week

CHENNAI: As part of World Wildlife Week celebrations, the Biodiversity Conservation Foundation, Tiruchy, and Tamils residing in Sri Lanka, Malaysia and Singapore have planned a series of international Tamil webinars. ‘Bharathi and biodiversity’ is the first webinar, and Niranjan Bharathi, great-grandson of Tamil poet Mahakavi Bharathiyar has been roped in for the weeklong celebrations.

Tamils working with Wildlife Institute of India (WII), Dehradun, and wildlife NGOs overseas would take part in the celebrations, conservation scientist and BCF founder A Kumaraguru said, adding that the organisers have also approached overseas Tamil parliamentarians seeking their participation. This is the first time wildlife webinars are organised for overseas Tamils.

Meanwhile, the State Forest Department has kick-started wildlife week celebrations. This year, State-level online quiz, painting contest on big cats, zookeepers celebration and webinar on tiger estimation and forensics are planned as part of it. High-resolution images in .jpg or .png may be send to aazpzooschool@gmail. com. Webinars and special talks would be telecast live on Arignar Anna Zoological Park YouTube channel. The Online quiz can be taken at www. tnforests.tn.gov.in or www. aazp.in/wildlife-week-quiz/, said a release.

Chennai Snake Park has also organised online sessions to discuss the role of snakes in ecology, recent trends in herpetological studies and insects and the ecosystem.