Agumbe Rainforest Research Station (ARRS) is a permanent field station of the Madras Crocodile Bank Trust, located on a 4.5 acre site, approximately 1.5 km from Agumbe village, in Shimoga District of Karnataka. ARRS was founded by renowned herpetologist Romulus Whitaker in 2005, with the financial support of the late Doris Norden Chattopadhyaya, the Whitley Fund for Nature, and the Rolex Award for Enterprise, with the long term mission to study and conserve rainforests through applied ecological research, outreach programs and partnerships. ARRS employs a staff of 10. The administration and research team comprises of 4 people, while there are 6 employees from the local community.
ARRS Founder Rom Whitaker's first encounters with wild king cobras, have gone down in the annals of India's wildlife history. They are described in the chapter King of Snakes, in the book Scaling up by Zai Whitaker.
