Sonali Garg has found 50 new types of frogs in India, Sri Lanka, and Indonesia, and she has named them all! She is the first woman in India to find 50 new types of frogs, and she did it. A few months ago, Dr. Garg earned her Ph.D. in environmental studies from the Department of Environmental Studies at the University of Delhi.
Key Highlight:
- Sonali Garg has found 50 new frog species in India, Sri Lanka, and Indonesia.
- She is the first woman in India to find 50 new types of frogs, and she did it.
- She has been chosen for a postdoctoral fellowship at Harvard University to study biodiversity.
- She will work at the Museum of Comparative Zoology, which is part of the Department of Organism and Evolutionary Biology.
- She said that she would keep working on species from India at Harvard and that she will not stop there.
Sonali Garg has been chosen for a postdoctoral fellowship at Harvard University to study biodiversity.
Sonali Garg, a researcher at Delhi University, has found 50 new species of frogs in India, Sri Lanka, and Indonesia. They range from tiny frogs that can fit on a thumbnail to a mysterious frog species that only come out for a few days each year for breeding and stays hidden the rest of the year. Not only is Dr. Garg India’s first woman researcher to find 50 new frog species, but this week, she was given a prestigious fellowship to work at Harvard University.
At Harvard, she will work at the Museum of Comparative Zoology, which is part of the Department of Organism and Evolutionary Biology, and she will also work there. The Museum of Comparative Zoology was founded in 1859. It is a place where people can learn about how animals are similar and different from each other.
Over eight years, from 2014 to 2021, the researcher found 50 new things. “What these findings show us is how different India’s biodiversity is from the rest of the world.” We hear a lot about the incredible biodiversity in the Amazon forests, but we don’t think about the biodiversity in our own country. On the other hand, frogs are a small group of animals, but they have a lot of different types of frogs that aren’t often looked at. She said that most of the new frog species that have been found in India come from the Western Ghats and the northeast.
Dr. Garg has studied frogs all over India and worldwide, and outside of India. A professor at the University of Delhi named Professor S. D. Biju helped her get her Ph.D. in environmental studies from the Department of Environmental Studies. Biju is known as “the frogman of India.”
There are about 430 to 440 frogs in India, and Prof. Biju has found more than 100 of them. She said that Prof. Biju had been her mentor and her inspiration to work in herpetology, the study of frogs. The researcher said that she would keep working on species from India at Harvard and that she would not stop there.
A statement from the Department of Environmental Studies at the University of Delhi said that “Sonali has described three new genera and solved many taxonomic mysteries that have been around for more than a century.” Sonali’s research primarily focuses on frog diversity, genetics, and biogeography, which helps her determine where frogs have been and where they are now.
Proud moment as a mentor: Dr. Sonali Garg has described 50 #new species of #frogs – the first Indian #women to achieve this distinction. Sonali is moving to #MCZ Harvard University for her Postdoc research. congratulations and best wishes. pic.twitter.com/mwuSzuIJx0
— SD Biju (@SDBiju1) December 10, 2021
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