Introduction

The department of Applied Zoology started as a division offering M.Sc in Applied Zoology in the year 1988. This developed into a full-fledged department in the year 1994. The founder-chairman of the department, Professor S.N. Hegde served the department till 1997, until he was elevated to the position of Vice-Chancellor, University of Mysore. Department presently has four faculty members with expertise in areas of genetic toxicology, neurobiology, population genetics/genomics, radiation biology, physiology, cytogenetic, fishery biology, molecular biology and biodiversity which are the areas of research of the department. The DBT Ramalingaswami fellow is also working in the department. The faculty have received fellowships from Commonwealth grants, NSERC/ NCE, Canada, AICTE, DAAD and DBT.  Presently, there are 85 students pursuing their M.Sc and 24 Research Scholars working for their Ph.D.  Subjects taught for the post graduate students include several applied aspects of Zoology in keeping with the recent developments in animal sciences. Our students have performed well and are now placed in national laboratories in India and across the world in countries like Australia, Germany, Sweden, Singapore, Japan, Taiwan and USA. A special paper on Wildlife conservation and management was introduced in 1994 with special assistance from UGC. The department was supported by DST-FIST funds in 2005. Inducted into UGC-SAP during 2009, we are now elevated to DRS level-II from 2015. Department has received DSIR and Infrastructure funding from UGC along with RFSMS and BSR fellowships.

The research endeavours of the department have been funded by various agencies like DST, SERB, DBT, AICTE and BRNS.  DST also has awarded a young scientist fellowship in the department. The department is actively involved in research in the area of biodiversity and conservation and projects under this have been funded by McArthur foundation, New York Wildlife Society.

One of the special features of the department is the molluscan shell museum which houses a collection of shells of more than 2000 molluscan species from all over the world. This collection was donated by Dr. Mukunda Prabhu. It has been housed in an exclusive museum with grants from UGC, New Delhi.  The museum also has a collection of regional fauna.

To promote interaction among academicians and students the department has organised several seminars, symposia and workshops sponsored by different agencies.   The department has a Natural History Association (NHA). NHA arrangers lectures, quiz programme, photography competition, field visits/ tour to promote excellence in teaching and learning.

Fruits of teaching and research should benefit the society.  To inspire this in students, the department has been arranging extension activities. We had with us late Professor Ramesh Chandra Rao who specialised in vermiculture as an emeritus fellow of AICTE.  With his expertise, the department had organised one-week training programme in vermitechnology, for public and farmers.  Workshops and seminars on vermitechnology, workshop on local breeds of cattle have also been organised for public. The faculty of the department are involved in People Biodiversity Registry (PBR) and have thus contributed in recording the fauna of local villages.  The department has organised molluscan shell and biodiversity exhibitions along with slide shows on wildlife conservation to create awareness among public on biodiversity and conservation. To inculcate Social responsibility and empathy in students towards destitute, the department has been organizing visits and programmes in different orphanages and destitute homes in and around Mangalore. Department  also celebrate Wildlife week through exhibitions, street play, competition etc., to sensitize the public on importance of wildlife and biodiversity. Department is organizing every year campus bird count and Wild bird day since 2016.

The faculty of the department is actively involved research in Centre for Application Radio Isotopes and radiation Technology (CARRT), which is BRNS funded megha-project.  For the first time, indigenous RIA and IRMA kits for quantification of C-peptide and RIA kit for insulin which can be used for routine diagnosis of Diabetes Mellitus in clinical laboratories has been developed.