History of Zoology and Present Status in India

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This book on History of zoology and present status in India is a compilation zoological study from ancient to recent times in thirty-five chapters covering the Science of zoology during European Trading Companies in India, the impact and contributions made during major East India Companies viz., British East India Company; Dutch East India Company; Danish East India Company; Portuguese East India Company, French East India Company: Ostend East-India Company and the Swedish East India Company, to the present day situation on the subject. Chapters such as dawn biology, biogeography, zoological nomenclature, limnology, besides the present day scenario on Protozoa, Porifera, Cnidaria, Ctenophora, Platyhelminthes, Gastrotricha, Rotifera, Kinorhyncha, Acanthocephala, Nematoda, Mollusca, Annelida, Entomology, Crustacea, Merostomata, Arachnida, Myriapoda, Sipuncula, Tardigrada, Phoronida, Bryozoa, Entoprocta, Brachiopoda, Echinoder mata, Chaetognatha, Ichthyology, Amphibia, Reptilia, Ornithology and Mammals are included in the book. This book is useful as a reference volume for Scientists, Researchers in the field of Zoology, Bioscience, Environmental Science, Animal taxonomists in the University, and other Research institutions and also those who wish to take up competitive examination for IAS, IPS, and Allied Services in State and Central Government, as well as for the Naturalists who wish to study Zoology for their career prospectus.p>

Dr. Ramakrishna (06 July, 1950) has a long period (40 years) of research career. was directly selected to the post of Zoologist by UPSC later Deputy Director and Director by the Ministry of Environment, Forests and Climate Change. As Director of Zoological Survey of India, he was the Advisor to Government of India on zoological matters and Wildlife, Member CITES and IUCN, National Board of Wildlife, till his superannuation. Dr. Ramakrishna's scientific interest was varied, he has made extensive and highly significant contributions to the study of fresh water and land molluscs of India. besides taxonomy and conservation of various groups of animals, for this contribution, he received the coveted Janaki Ammal National Award for taxonomy and recipient of fellowships from Several instituions. As an outreach programme and to strengthen the natural history museums of the country, visited several national/international natural history museums of Europe, America and South East Asia. He has Chaired several National and International meetings, symposiums, seminars and workshops, conducted training programmes on taxonomy. He was also editor/editorial board member of various national and international journals, President Zoological Society. He has conducted many national and international seminars, besides chairing and delivering Keynote addresses. He has published about 48 books, edited 98 books and authored/co-authored 170 scientific publications. He was research guide for 6 Ph.D. students. After his superannuation he was the honourary scientist of University of Agricultural Sciences, Bangalore, Chairman, Research Advisory Committee of SACON, an Institution of Excellence on Birds and Natural History, besides member of various committees. Dr. Chandrakasan Sivaperuman, is currently working as Scientist-E & Officer-in Charge at the Zoological Survey of India, Port Blair.

He has been extensively involved in field surveys in different ecosystem of the country. He has served as Expert Consultant in the Committee for the Purpose of Control and Supervision of Animals (CPCSEA). Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change, Government of India during June 2006 to April 2008. He has receive dmany prestigious national and international awards. He has published more than 250 research papers in national and international journals and newsletters. He also authored/edited more than 30 books published by national and international publishers. He has successful conducted three batches of training course on Para-Taxonomy including PBR under the Green Skill Development Programme of Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change, Government of India. He has organised many National and International seminar/symposium/workshops. He is life member of various scientific societies in India and abroad. He also successfully completed eight major research projects funded by SERB, Department of Science and Technology (Fast Tract Young Scientist Scheme), Ministry of Environment, Forest, and Climate Change. Ministry of Defence, besides several internal research programmes.

Having spent more than four decades in the field of animal science and having edited several books of taxonomic research, Fauna of India, State Fauna series, feel obliged to share my knowledge, analyses, and conclusions in this compilation of Historical aspects of Zoology, having in mind of common ones as well as professionals. At the outset, this work is a compilation from different sources, biographies, editorials, prefaces, views and visits to libraries and museums in and outside the country, which made us to collect tremendous contributions by several zoologists in the field. A good number of bibliographies are available on Indian zoology furnishing the details of the research work done by various authors, however, a comprehensive account of the contributors to Indian zoology since is lacking. Therefore, the idea of compiling the significant contributors to the science of Indian Zoology was conceived during the tenure and association as researcher at Zoological Survey of India, for over four decades (1979 - 2020). During this period, The State of Art Report: Zoology by Prof. Ananthakrishnan, published by Zoological Survey of India in 1980 and subsequent publication of Animal Resources of India: State of the Art during the tenure of Prof. Shamim Jairajpuri in 1991 and Animal Resources of India in 2007 by Ramakrishna and J. R. B. Alfred which gave an account of animal groups, to provide additional information on Indian animal species from protozoa to mammals.

Dr. R.A. Mashelkar, once said "Perhaps the greatest overall challenge for natural science collections is for the great research museums to dispel, once and for all, the image of collections sitting somewhere in the basement of a building, the specimens and their curators gathering dust together, and all devoted to some arcane exercise of identifying and classifying the results of someone else's science. The reality is that the modern museum is a constantly evolving entity, home to a heady mixture of sciences evolution, biogeography, environmental biology, human biology, geology, and molecular biology all in the context of growing public interest and a need for new modes of public access". Natural History Museums around the world, apart from being hugely popular with the public, natural history collections play a vital role in our understanding of biodiversity, evolution, population genetics and the environmental impacts of climate change, pesticide use and so on. This is also because historical collections provide base-line data against which modern observations can be compared and to produce predictive models. The strongest link between museum collections and national security is probably in the realm of public health and safety. Collections are often used to track the history of infectious diseases and identify their sources or reservoirs. It was for this reason, the information available in museums was essential. Visit to different Natural History museums during 2011 to 2019, information collected over the years viz., New York, Washington, Philadelphia, Florida, California (Los Angelis) (all in United States), Natural History Museums at London, Paris, Zurich, Rome, Venice, Norway, Sweden (Uppsala, Gutenberg and Stockholm), Finland (all European Union), Sydney (Australia), Singapore, Bangkok (Thailand), Sri Lanka and Bahamas, and the museums at various universities of India, a close acquaintance at the Asiatic Society and Indian Museum at Kolkata, Institutes of reputes (MoEFCC, CSIR, DBT, DST) in India, and the interaction with the learned community of zoologists in Indian universities made me to collect and compile information on the Indian zoology. We confess, that this compilation from different sources, is merely meant to provide signposts to some key and interesting features in the development of Zoological research in India, as we are neither historians nor an expert on voyages of discovery, but rather a museum curator and hence our job is essentially a chronological listing for quick reference or a starting point for further understanding on the subject.

**Contents and Sample Pages**