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Journalism of Courage
Meet Zeeshan Mirza,23,who has the discovery of four species of scorpions and two species of tarantulas in his name
As others his age were enjoying college life,Zeeshan Mirza was content sitting by the pond at Bhavans College,observing snakes at its periphery. At 23,this researcher,nature lover and arachnid expert has the discovery of four species of scorpions and two species of tarantulas in his name. The hunt is on for more.
By 2007,this self-taught naturalist was adept at identifying different species of snakes and knew enough about their breeding patterns. That year,while walking around a forest area,Mirza and a friend spotted a pregnant snake. This particular species was known to give only six-nine children,but it gave 23. Thats what my first research paper was about, he says. He has over 30 papers in journals in the US,Germany and Lithuania to his credit.
The discovery of the new species happened by accident. As part of a biodiversity study of Aarey Milk Colony and Film City that Mirza undertook with his friend Rajesh Sanap,they used to take long walks in search of creatures of all kinds. One day,they found a scorpion under a leaf,one which they had never seen before. It looked similar to something found in Uttaranchal,but we knew it couldnt exist here. After detailed study and comparison with the existing specimens,we found it was a new species and named it Lychus Aareyenis after the colony, Mirza recalls.
2009 was a lucky year for this wilderness expert as he made two more scorpion discoveries,this time in Andhra Pradesh. Since then,Mirza has forayed into trapdoor tarantulas,a special kind of spider that lives in deep burrows in the ground with a lid on top. In fact,he rediscovered one that has not been spotted in the past 110 years.
My day starts and ends with wildlife, says the third-year zoology student who won the Sanctuary Asias Young Naturalist Award last year. In his free time,he conducts forest trails to educate students and nature lovers. You cannot conserve something if you are not aware of it. You can only save something if you have studied it.
Ask him his dream. He wants to work in a museum in the US and study the evolutionary pattern of these creatures.
Mirza and his friends build stone walls and plant tree saplings at Aarey Milk Colony every year to curb soil erosion. People say forests need to be saved and we need to fight climate change,but do they ask themselves if they are doing their bit? It is not enough just to turn off lights or click pictures of tigers at reserves and put them up on Facebook. All these are my ways of contributing.
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