MCBT has an on going EE programme for the villages and schools that include nature camps, training workshops for teachers, youth from fishing villages and resource personnel, besides frequent mobile exhibition cum awareness programmes for the schools and fishing villages along the East Coast Road are conducted. Other activities include field trips, education programmes for the nature clubs from the rural schools. MCBT has also set up a multi ‘Puppet theatre’ and this age old traditional art form is used as an innovative communication tool.  

PUBLIC EDUCATION

• Over 200 popular articles, including several books for children, by MCB staff, in newspapers and magazines.
• The following films, in collaboration with other organizations/individuals:

• Irulas, Hunter-Gatherers in the Space Age. 18 minute U-Matic video programme for Oxfam India Trust.
• Periyar. 23 minute 16 mm colour documentary for Sanctuary Films, about Periyar Tiger Reserve.
• Banking On Crocodiles. 20 minute U-Matic video programme on crocodile research and conservation. 
• Snakebite. 16 mm, 27 minute colour, docudrama in English and Hindi on the common venomous snakes and the proper treatment of snakebite
• A Cooperative for Snake Catchers. 16 mm, 20 minute colour documentary on the Irula tribals in Tamil Nadu, India, in English, for CAPART, Government of India.
• Seeds of Hope. 16 mm, 23 minute colour documentary on why and how to grow a forest                  nursery, in Tamil, English, Hindi, and Telugu for Swedish Intentional development Authority.
• The Boy and the Crocodile. 16mm / 35 mm, 105 minute wildlife adventure feature film set in a village and forest pond in South India in Tamil, English and Hindi for the Children’s Film Society, India.
• Silent Valley.  53 minute documentary on one of India’s last rain forests, saved from a hydel project; English, Malayalam, and Tamil.  For the Norwegian Agency for Development Cooperation (NORAD).
• Rat Wars. For National Geographic Society. 16 mm. 34 minute colour documentary on the rats in India.
• Treasured Islands. 15 minute colour video film on the work of the Andaman and Nicobar Islands Environmental Team in the islands. (In Hindi & English).
• Nagaraja - King Cobra.16 mm 53 minute colour documentary on natural history of the world’s largest venomous snake (National Geographic).
• Forest = Water.  8 minute video film for the Tamil Nadu Forest Department on the need to protect forests.
• Keralensis. 3 minute award winning spot of images of the wildlife of Kerala.
• Thunder Dragon. 54 minute colour documentary on the natural history of the water monitor (National Geographic).

The over 350,000 annual visitors to the Crocodile Bank are given talks and demonstrations. They read  information signboards about crocodiles, their conservation and about general ecological issues as well. They are encouraged to talk to MCBT staff and ask questions and learn about reptiles and conservation in general. School and college students get a special talk by the Education Officer and other staff. 

The Centre for Herpetology Library

Currently MCBT has the largest herpetological collection in India, started in a very modest way by Harry Andrews; through acquisitions of books, journals, newsletters and reprints, through exchanges, correspondence and networking, has resulted in 1000s of books, reprints and newsletters. This library is current and upto date with publications from India and abroad and is used by student (Schools and colleges), university staff, forest departments and researchers from within India and overseas. Information on new herpetological books and current literature is circulated via the MCBT newsletter Herpinstance and book reviews are regularly published in Hamadryad. The library also has a small section with books, reptints, reports and other publications on the Andaman and Nicobar Islands, besides a general section with other books, newsletters, directories, video tapes and photos.