ZSI women’s expedition to explore high-altitude faunal

Shimla, Aug 2 (UNI) The first women’s faunal expedition comprising seven scientists of the Zoological Survey of India (ZSI) will explore endangered and endemic faunal diversity from an altitude of 2,800 m to 5,800 m in Himachal Pradesh, it was announced on Tuesday. The Lahaul valley is a remote terrain of high altitudes of Himalaya with rough climatic conditions. The survey will include far-flung valleys like Miyar, Udaipur, Ghepan, and Sissu) and high-altitude passes like Baralacha and Shinkula, the freshwater Suraj Tal lake, and trans-Himalayan tracts of Sarchu, Chatru, Chota Dara, and Batal. These are the tough tracts that even men avoid trudging. The expedition, flagged off from the Atal tunnel near Manali by ZSI director Dhriti Banerjee on Monday, is being organized to encourage women scientists to participate in such expeditions in the future. “It will boost the morale of women scientists covering this tough tract,” she said. Besides Banerjee, an entomologist with expertise in Diptera, the other scientists are Debashree Dam, an expert on fossils and Hemiptera, Avtar Kaur Sidhu, who is working on mammals and butterflies, Indu Sharma, an expert on fish, birds, and Herptofauna, Shanta Bala Gurumayan, an expert on mollusca, and Aparna Kalawati, who is working moths.