The decline in the population of vultures has prompted the University of Mysore to take up studies for their conservation and to set up a vulture gene bank on the Manasagangotri campus here. The Department of Studies in Genetics and Genomics on Thursday signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the Karnataka Forest Department for a study on biodiversity of vultures in Ramadevarabetta in Ramanagaram using DNA profiling techniques.
Vice-Chancellor G. Hemantha Kumar and Deputy Conservator of Forests, Ramanagaram, Devaraju signed the MoU and exchanged the documents, as the genetics department has proposed to start vulture genome studies seeing the urgency of saving the species from getting extinct.
In his inaugural address, Mr. Kumar said the university and the Forest Department have joined hands to tackle the diminishing population of vultures. The stability of the vulture population is at a crossroads and the day has come when “Jatayu” will be extinct soon. “I understand that the survival of any animal is due to the gene’s environmental interaction based on basic principles of genetics. As I am told, through the application of knowledge of genetics and genomics, we can foster progress in understanding the diminishing population of vultures,” he said.
