The Agumbe Rainforest Research Station (ARRS) was founded in 2005 by Romulus Whitaker, a herpetologist. Whitaker had been familiar with Agumbe since the 1970s when he began studying the King Cobra. Its purpose is to create a local biodiversity database, encourage individual scientific research, collaborate with India's Department of Forestry and conserve the rainforest of the Western Ghats as well as to educate the residents of the region in the importance of forestry conservation. The King Cobra, an endangered species is the station's flagship species. The station occupies an area of . Funding for the station came from Whitaker's mother, Doris Norden and from the Whitley Award received by Whitaker in 2005.