Zeeshan Mirza is an Indian biologist who has helped describe more than 60 species of animals. On one expedition, he found four new tarantula species. He described a green pit viper named after Salazar Slytherin from Harry Potter. He helped find twelve new species of day geckos from a single mountain range.
“I work on multiple taxa, but by far, snakes fascinate me more than any other group of organisms,” said Zeeshan in an interview with Mongabay.
His wildlife journey began in the urban forests near his home in Mumbai. “I was born and brought up in Mumbai, the Western Ghats were close; I did end up conducting extensive fieldwork in the Ghats,” Zeeshan said. The Western Ghats are an ancient mountain range that is home to many species of animals.
One of the conservation dangers for newly described species is that people want them as pets. They may take them from the wild illegally, and this can endanger them.
Zeeshan explains which kind of newly described species are endangered by the pet trade: “Small species that may be easily concealed in a bag are the main targets. These include snakes, lizards, scorpions, and tarantulas.”
Zeeshan helped describe a new species of tarantula from the Western Ghats. Only eight months later the species had been illegally taken from the wild and was on sale across online pet stores in the U.S. and Europe.
Zeeshan explains that pet traders and collectors use information from scientific papers describing new species to find where these species live. He thinks that scientists should not provide precise location data in new species descriptions. That way, illegal pet collectors will not know where to go to capture the newly described species.
Zeeshan has advice for young people who want to help find and describe new species: “Being curious is the key to discoveries in science. Many new species exist; one should attempt to identify them using keys and characteristics while comparing museum specimens.”
David Brown adapted this story for Mongabay Kids. It is based on an interview with Zeeshan Mirza by Liz Kimbrough, published on Mongabay News.
