Darjeeling: Taking the facility of Biobanking (popular as Frozen Zoo) a step further in order to aid research and development, the Padmaja Naidu Himalayan Zoological Park (Pnhzp) Darjeeling will be organising a one-day workshop on Biobanking on Thursday.
Talking to the Millennium Post, Basavaraj Holeyachi, Director, Pnhzp, stated: “Darjeeling Zoo is organising a day-long workshop on Biobanking for forest officers of North Bengal, veterinarians and para vets on April 3. Dr Kartikeyan, Chief Scientist from the Centre for Cellular and Molecular Biology, will be present as the resource person for the workshop.”
On December 23, 2024, Bengal Forest Minister Birbaha Hansda visited the Darjeeling Zoo and inaugurated the newly constructed biobanking facility, pathology lab and skeleton museum. With this, the Darjeeling Zoo became the first zoo in the country to freeze gametes, tissues, and genetic material in liquid nitrogen in freezers for future use in conservation activities and research using the biobanking facility.
Biobank is like a frozen zoo and has immense possibilities. Pnhzp will be collecting and freezing ova, sperm, tissue samples of endangered species. Later on, when the facility is on a more advanced stage, in case an animal is near extinction, these gametes can be used and through surrogacy the animals can be brought back. Through the genetic material and tissues collected, genetic sampling can be done, facilitating uses on the lines of DNA fingerprinting also.
In another development, a picture of a Spotted Linsang (Prionodon pardicolor) was captured by a camera trap in the Neora Valley National Park in Kalimpong. Spotted Linsang is a carnivorous mammal found in north-eastern India, Nepal, Bhutan, Southern China and South East Asia.
“As part of a study on Red Panda, 20 camera traps were installed in the Neora Valley National Park by Pnhzp, Darjeeling. One of the camera traps recorded a Spotted Linsang on May 7, 2022. This has been published in the IUCN Journal of Small Carnivore Conservation,” stated the Director. Photographic evidence of the Spotted Linsang in the Neora Valley National Park was reported by the Government of West Bengal in 2018.
A few days ago, the Spotted Linsang was also captured by a camera trap set up inside the Buxa Tiger Reserve. “This is the first time that a Spotted Linsang has been recorded in the Buxa Tiger Reserve. This proves that the BTR is a bio-diverse hotspot,” stated Apurba Sen, Field Director, BTR.