Maharaja’s College, whose campus sprawls over 25 acres populated with trees, will soon get a butterfly park. The botany and zoology departments together have drawn up a plan to build an aesthetic garden in the “central circle” of the campus to promote public awareness on butterfly species and their conservation. It would also serve as a centre for in situ conservation.
The park is one of the many greening initiatives adopted by the college, which includes a Miyawaki forest in the offing. Miyawaki forests can be made by planting native species trees in the same area, which grow into a dense, native forest. The technique is pioneered by Japanese botanist Akira Miyawaki. Stephen Sequeira, Assistant Professor, Department of Botany, says the proposed park is expected to attract over 50 species of butterflies to the campus. Students have so far recorded only around 20 species over different periods of time.
Maharaja’s is one of the latest to introduce a butterfly park to its campus. A handful of institutions including schools in the city have already set up butterfly gardens.
As part of an initiative launched by the Kerala Forest Research Institute (KFRI), along with the State Government, biodiversity parks were set up in government schools about two-and-a-half years ago. “The idea was to help children get introduced to butterflies, but we realised it helped them learn about a number of plant and tree species too,” says Soumya Anil, an entomologist who had formerly worked with KFRI for 10 years and helped set up butterfly parks in about 70-100 schools across the State.
- Kalypso Adventures, an adventure, nature, and eco-tourism company, conducts butterfly tours for those who enjoy spending quiet time watching the winged creatures. The package is a part of the larger bird-watching and dragon-fly tour, which the company undertakes. The tour along the Western Ghats would have a field guide. The tours are planned according to the season. December to May is considered to be a good time to watch butterflies in Kerala.
“Butterfly parks are miniature biodiversity spheres. Extremely sensitive to changes in the environment, they can serve as indicators of climate change,” says Soumya, who has authored a number of articles on butterflies for journals and contemporary publications.
For most children whose lives are far removed from nature, watching the life cycle of a butterfly in close quarters is fascinating, says Teresa Fernandez, a teacher at Nava Nirman Public School, which set up a butterfly garden as part of a project last year. The park now attracts a number of butterfly species. Vidyodaya School at Thevakkal too had set up a park in 2018. A gelatine factory in Koratty has developed a garden of medicinal plants, which began attracting butterflies, leading to the formation of a butterfly garden.
- Wildlife conservationist Sammilan Shetty, who has set up a butterfly park at Belvai in Moodabidri (Dakshina Kannada District), will organise a “Summer Walk with Butterflies”, on February 22 and 23 in the Western Ghats. The participants will watch “mud-puddling”, a social activity of butterflies where hundreds of them gather on river banks to feed on minerals. Some of the species that can be spotted at the summer walk are the Five-bar Swordtail, Malabar Raven, Painted Saw Tooth, Chocolate Albatross, Common Jay, Common Blue Bottle and the Great Orange Tip to name a few. For more information call 9845993292
All it needs to create a butterfly park is an open space, which should include a sunny area, a water-body, a shady area and host plants. Each butterfly species has host plants, on which they depend for subsistence. “Many may not be aware that the plants we find in plenty in our surroundings could be hosts to some of the prettiest of butterflies,” says Soumya. For instance, the curry leaf plant acts as a host to the Common Mormon, a brightly-coloured butterfly species; the kanikkonna attracts the Common Emigrant.
Kerala has about 326 species of butterflies; but the numbers keep fluctuating, says Soumya. The Malabar Banded Peacock or the Buddha Mayoori, which was recently declared the ‘State Butterfly’, is decreasing in numbers owing largely to the decline of its host, the mullilam tree (Indian Prickly Ash), which is a raw material for the matchbox industry.
“While conserving a butterfly species, an entire eco-system is being conserved,” says Soumya.
