The country’s first ‘bio bank’ in a zoo is up and running at Padmaja Naidu Himalayan Zoological Park, better known as Darjeeling Zoo, officials said.

• While a zoo, or zoological park, is often seen as an institute dedicated to exhibiting animals, it serves a much larger purpose — to study animals in captivity and through research and planning, make conservation efforts to aid their survival. 
• The Darjeeling Zoo is no exception, and in India, is the first zoo to have a genetic biobank facility. 
• The zoo serves as a vital hub for research and conservation, housing Himalayan species like the red panda, snow leopard, tahr, goral, and Siberian tigers.