United Nations has designated 3rd March as the day for Global Observance for Wildlife. In light of this, The Students’ Union 2018-19 of the University of Hyderabad has organized celebrations for World Wildlife Day in the campus for the first time. There was a Photography contest on Campus Biodiversity, Campus Wildlife photo exhibition and talk sessions by Dr. Ravi Jillapalli, Founder- WILD LENS and Mr. Pradeep Nair on Urban Biodiversity and Conservation at Savitribai Phule (DST) Auditorium. The Friends of Snakes Society conducted a live demo to create awareness about snakes’ identification, and precautions required while dealing with them. This was done to generate awareness among the Campus community on various aspects of Biodiversity like Wildlife protection, Lake Preservation, Rescue of wild life, Plantations etc.

UoH has a rich biodiversity: Peafowls, Spotted Deer, Star Tortoises, Monitor Lizards, Pythons, Wild boars, Mongoose, Porcupines, Boa Snakes etc. can be found very commonly, along with more than 200 different species of birds. The steady expansion of human habitation hassled to a rapid decrease of our wildlife.

With this celebration, the Students Union 2018-19 and the WILD LENS Team emphasized on the need to protect the campus flora and fauna, and the importance of wildlife conservation.

Three best entries for Campus Biodiversity Photo contest were given prizes by the Students Union 2018-19. The first prize is given to Ms Nilika Dutta for Spotted Owlet under Bird Category with a prize amount of 2K, Second prize to Ms Sushma Nandyala with a prize money of Rs 1500/- for insect category and third prize to Mr Sandeep Rasa with a prize money of Rs 1000/- under exotic category- Star tortoise.

Highlights of the Program were:

1. Campus Biodiversity Photo Exhibition by Dr. Ravi Jillapalli

2. Photo contest of campus wildlife

3. Snakes Live demo by Friends of Snakes Society

Talks:

1. “Campus Biodiversity- My struggle for Conservation” by Dr. Ravi Jillapalli

2. “Urban Biodiversity Conservation” by Mr Pradeep Nair, Animal Warriors Conservation Society