Zoological Survey of India

India is recognized as one of the seventeen mega diversity countries of the world with four biodiversity hot spots -Western Ghats / Sri Lanka, Indo Burma, Himalayas and Sundaland. There are about 1.7 million living species described from all over the million living species described from all over the world and another 15 million species are waiting to be discovered. In India till date, 1,00,693 species of animals have been described, but a large number of species are expected to be discovered especially from the lower invertebrate groups occurring in various ecosystems. Also the status of the higher group of animals especially those in the Schedules need to be studied before their habitats get disappeared. Scientists in ZSI are engaged in exploring, naming, describing, classifying and documenting animals from all over India. But a lot more needs to be done to understand and investigate the faunal diversity of India in the light of the objectives of the Convention of Biological Diversity for scientific use and equitable sharing of the benefits of animal resources of the country. ...view more