Seven students from the Zoology Department of Lady Doak College are working with Wildlife Portal of India, a non-profit organisation based in Chennai, to create awareness of lesser-known and endemic animal species in India.
Under the guidance of the organisation, the students are learning and spreading awareness about animals like Sangai, Nilgai, fishing cat, clouded leopard and flying lizard. One of the students, M Soumiya Nandhini, says, “One of the main aspects of conservation of biodiversity is protecting the animals. Apart from the popular Asian elephants and Royal Bengal tigers, people do not know much about the variety of animal species in India and why some of them need to be protected. Most of us do not even know our own State animals. Hence, we are trying to keep people informed about unfamiliar animals like pangolins, dhole, the Himalayan wolf and many others.”
The students have been doing write-ups, social media posts and podcasts on these topics. Priyadharshini Rajendran, HOD, says, “The college conducted a series of lectures about biodiversity in Madurai last month. It led to students having an interaction with the portal and trying to help them with their awareness campaigns.”
