India's first genetic bank for wildlife conservation is located at:

India's first genetic bank for wildlife conservation, called the "National Wildlife Genetic Resource Bank", was set up in 2018 at the Laboratory for the Conservation of Endangered Species (LaCONES) in Hyderabad, Telangana. LaCONES is a facility of the CSIR-Centre for Cellular and Molecular Biology (CCMB).

What the genetic bank does:

It collects, stores and preserves genetic material from wild animals, especially endangered species. This includes DNA, cells, tissues, gametes (sperm and eggs) and embryos.

The material is stored at very low temperatures, using liquid nitrogen at about minus 196 degrees Celsius (cryopreservation), so it can be kept for a very long time.

This "frozen zoo" can help in the future to increase genetic diversity in small populations, to support breeding programmes using assisted reproductive technologies such as artificial insemination and in vitro fertilisation (IVF), and possibly to help bring back species if they become extinct in the wild.

It also helps wildlife forensics, for example in identifying animal parts seized from poachers.

About LaCONES:

• It was set up in 1998 with support from the Central Zoo Authority, the Government of Andhra Pradesh and CSIR.
• It was India's first laboratory dedicated to the conservation of endangered species.
• It has worked on the conservation of species such as the blackbuck, spotted deer, Indian mouse deer and vultures, and it has helped with the DNA identification of animals.

Other important wildlife institutions:

• Wildlife Institute of India (WII): Dehradun, Uttarakhand.
• Zoological Survey of India (ZSI): Kolkata, West Bengal.
• Botanical Survey of India (BSI): Kolkata.
• Salim Ali Centre for Ornithology and Natural History (SACON): Coimbatore, Tamil Nadu.

Why not the other options?

• ✗Dehradun is home to the Wildlife Institute of India.
• ✗Kolkata is home to the Zoological Survey of India.
• ✗Bengaluru has many research institutions, but not this genetic bank.