Overview

• Animal Discoveries-2024 recorded 683 new faunal entries — 459 species and 224 new records — along with 433 plant taxa additions for 2024.
• Kerala led the states with 101 new faunal discoveries, followed by Karnataka with 82 and significant contributions from northeast regions.
• Version 2.0 of the Checklist of Fauna of India was unveiled, expanding the national registry to 105,244 species and subspecies.
• MoUs with the Counter Insurgency and Jungle Warfare School and IUCN aim to bolster applied research, defense-linked studies and national red-listing processes.
• A 110-hour hackathon on biodiversity and climate solutions culminated in the launch of Animal Taxonomy Summit-2025 as ZSI advances a digitized, searchable biodiversity database.