Press
Releases
| New Laboratory for Preservation
of Endangered Species to be set up in Hyderabad |
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A new Laboratory for the Conservation of Endangered
Animal Species (LACONES) will be opened in July this year
at the Centre for Cellular and Molecular Biology (CCMB) ,Hyderabad.
The Laboratory will help in the preservation of any endangered
species including the tiger. Announcing this at a Press Conference
here today, the Minister for Science and Technology and Ocean
Development, Shri Kapil Sibal said that preserving the tiger
is actually persevering the human species. He said that two
different methods will be adopted for preserving the genetic
diversity of the tiger population in the country.
The first Plan of action involves collection
of the tigers’ scat samples for DNA finger printing which
will give an accurate picture of the number of tigers in a
forest area . If it is found that there is lack of genetic
diversity , a second method involving stunning the tiger and
collection of sperms through electro ejaculation will be adopted.
The sperms having maximum virility will be frozen and will
be used for genetic diversity through artificial insemination.
In this process we don’t need cloning , Shri Sibal said.
By July this year, the process of collecting the scat samples
will be started by training the Forest Department Workers.
The Project will be run jointly by the Council for Scientific
and Industrial Research (CSIR) and the Department of Biotechnology.
By the end of the year we shall have the complete picture
of the tigers, Shri Sibal said.
Source : Ministry
of Science & Technology
Date : May 19, 2005
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