Hyderabad to get first frozen Zoo

A frozen tiger, a preserved black buck or an elephant in a sub-zero temperature enclosure! It is what might soon become a commonplace sight at the country's first frozen zoo planned in Hyderabad.

It is being set up as part of a conservation initiative to ensure that no more species are added to the list of extinct animals, which disappeared from such as the dodo, kiwi and Asiatic cheetah.

Trying to preserve the genetic resources of wildlife, the Laboratory for the Conservation of Endan gered Species, Hyderabad, is working to set up the frozen zoo, which will have birds and animals along with endangered species in the form of eggs and embryos.

"We lost the Asiatic cheetah and there are some highly-endangered species, which are fighting for survival. If we can preserve their eggs, we can at least be sure of not losing them entirely," said the member-secretary of the Central Zoo Authority, Dr B.R. Sharma.

The Hyderabad laboratory has started preparing genetic fingerprints of species such as the cheetah and the black buck. It has also done successful assisted reproduction of the deer, with a success rate of 20 per cent, and officials say that the same technology can be used with other animals such as tigers.

The laboratory has a unit which became functional a few months ago and is now focusing on the conservation of endangered species. It is creating sperm and egg banks of endangered species and carrying out artificial insemination, in-vitro fertilization (equivalent to creating test-tube babies in humans ) and will also be working on the cloning of animals.

The laboratory, which has been set up jointly by the Central Zoo Authority, CSIR, the Andhra government's forest department and the Centre for Cellular and Molecular Biology, has already collected about 2,000 samples of species for genetic fingerprinting. It is also working on improving the genetic health of captive species.