In a first, ZSI to celebrate its foundation day in city

Website on butterflies will also be unveiled

KOLKATA: Zoological Survey of India (ZSI) will be celebrating its foundation day on July 1, for the first time and that too in Kolkata commemorating 75 years of Indian Independence. ZSI headquartered in Kolkata was established on 1916 to promote survey, exploration, research and documentation leading to the advancement in knowledge on various aspects of animal taxonomy of the Indian subcontinent.

“The ‘Animal Discoveries’ and ‘Plant Discoveries’ 2021 , a number of publications of both ZSI and Botanical Survey of India (BSI) will be released during the programme. The E.K. Janaki Ammal award – the highest national award on taxonomy in the field of plant, animal and microbial taxonomy will also be conferred on the occasion,”Dhriti Banerjee, Director ZSI said .

Around 500 new species will be added to the Indian fauna with the release of Animal Discoveries 2021.

Banerjee said that ZSI has signed a number of international MoUs in the recent past that includes Natural History Museum of London, National History Museum of Paris, Altai State University at Barnaul, Russia and International Barcode of Life Consortium etc for development of academic encourgament and development of co operation and exchange in areas of mutual academic interest.

“We have already signed MoUs with 25 central and state universities and on July 1, our 107th foundation day we will be doing so with University of Burdwan and West Bengal State University. Plans for similar MOUs with North Bengal University and Kalyani University are also in the pipeline,”she added.

A website containing detailed information on butterflies and moths will also be unveiled. There are 1500 butterfly species and 12500 moth species in India. With bird watching developing as a major hobby, a comprehensive publication titled Birds of India will also be released. There are 1331 bird species found in India . Bhupender Yadav, union minister for Environment, Forest and Climate Change and Ashwini Kumar Choubey, Minister of state for the same department will be present on the occasion.

Around 500 new species will be added to the Indian fauna with the release of Animal Discoveries 2021