The University of Calicut on Wednesday inked a memorandum of understanding with the Kerala Veterinary and Animal Sciences University (KVASU) for establishing an international avian research centre (IARC) aimed at strengthening the study of birds.
Planned on the Calicut university campus at Thenhipalam in Malappuram, the IARC assumes significance against the backdrop of the outbreak of zoonotic diseases such as avian influenza and the bat-borne Nipah, officials of the two universities said after signing the MoU in the presence of Forest Minister K. Raju.
Ambitious plans
Initially, the centre will start off with certificate and diploma programmes in temporary quarters on the Calicut University campus. A permanent, ₹100-crore facility will be established in five years. The IARC will study both poultry species as well as wild birds, which serve critical ecosystem requirements.
In a sense, the centre will be the first of its kind in the country as the avian research centre at Bareilly, Uttar Pradesh, focusses chiefly on poultry species, Joseph Mathew, Registrar, KVASU, said.
Among other things, the centre will study and research avian behavioural patterns and ecology, population dynamics, migration and bird physiology, genetics, genomics, zoonotic diseases, and the impact of climate change on birds.
The IARC will also focus on raptors or birds of prey such as falcons whose populations have dipped in recent decades, said Zubair Medammal, coordinator, IARC, and assistant professor, Department of Zoology, Calicut University.
