Zoo to open doors for research

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The lush green premises of the museum and zoo in the State capital may soon become a hub of study and research. The authorities are planning to make available the flora and fauna on the sprawling campus for students of postgraduate and doctoral programmes in Botany and Zoology.

Once this programme is in place, research scholars can make field trips to the zoo and the botanical garden to collect samples and make observations. The dissertations of students of postgraduate programmes could also be based on various aspects of animal and plant life at the zoo and Museum. For those interested in studying birds, for instance, there could perhaps be no better place inside the zoo than the lake. Hundreds of birds visit this lake daily. Similarly, the botanical garden inside the zoo is the favoured haunt of many species of butterfly. The zoo is also home to the highly endangered Lion-tailed Macaque.

Meet with professors

“We have called a meet of college professors of zoology and botany on December 1 to give a concrete shape to such a programme,” the director of Museums and Zoo, K. Udayavarman, told The Hindu on Friday. The well-stocked library of zoological and botanical books at the Natural History Museum would be an added attraction to scholars.

There are also plans to provide training to high school and higher secondary teachers so that they can organise field trips to the zoo and museum for their classes, Dr. Udayavarman said.

A part of efforts to spread awareness about conservation of cultural heritage, the Napier Museum plans to offer short courses including Museology and art appreciation to interested persons. This will be done in association with the National Museum Institute, New Delhi. “On November 29, experts from the institute and from the National Research Laboratory for Conservation, Lucknow are coming down for a discussion on the possibility of instituting such courses,” he added.

First step

As the first step towards putting in place an educational outreach programme, the Museum organise a seminar on biodiversity for college students on November 24. Association professor at University College, Thiruvananthapuram, E. Kunhikrishnan handled sessions on the bio-diversity of the Western Ghats and on challenges in conserving bio-diversity.

“Seventy-two students from different colleges attended the seminar. The participants were given a book which defined bio-diversity, identified global bio-diversity hotspots, listed ecologically fragile lands and the extinction risks faced by specific species,” Museum superintendent S. Abu told The Hindu.

The participants were also given brochures relating to conservation of mangroves, tigers, wildlife hotspots in Kerala and a visitors' handbook about the Thiruvananthapuram museum and zoo. The seminar evoked an enthusiastic response from the students. This, he reasoned, was an indication that young minds do resonate to the cause of bio-diversity and conservation.

Source: The Hindu, 2-12-2010