India’s Zoo in a Test Tube: Freezing Life to Save the Wild

A frozen zoo, yes India has one! To prepare for doomsday, India has a zoo in a test tube. As forests shrink and wildlife comes under mounting pressure, scientists in Hyderabad are building a last line of defence. At minus 196 degrees Celsius, India is preserving living cells of endangered animals, creating a modern‑day Noah’s Ark, not in the wild, but inside test tubes. On World Wildlife Day (March 3) NDTV’s Science Editor Pallava Bagla brings you this special exclusive conversation with Dr. Karthikeyan Vasudevan, Chief Scientist at the CSIR-Laboratory for the Conservation of Endangered Species (LaCONES), Hyderabad on how life is being saved in perpetuity.