Calcutta University recently launched a online zoology hub which is used as medium to connect the all the students and researchers on the subject across the India. The main objective of the hub is to provide the students and researchers access to the natural history resources and to clarify their related quires if they have any.
The department of zoology just completed with a virtual museum and launched the zoology hub in February. An official from zoology department stated that the hub is for interdisciplinary approach to the subject and is expected to promote networking in research, education and outreach.
Ena Ray Banerjee of the zoology department stated that it started with the restoration and up-gradation of the Centenary Heritage Zoological Museum that houses thousands of common, rare, endangered, threatened and even extinct animals from Bengal, from the rest of India and from all over the world. It showcases fauna from almost all zoo-geographical realms of this planet
The endeavor is an off-shoot of an international DNA bar-coding programme (iBOL) and encompasses audio resources like animal noises and bird calls, embryological specimens and records of unique specimens like Gila monsters (venomous lizards) with data on their importance and current conservation status.