Butterflies fly high on India's wildlife conservation map

The Sentinel , Friday, December 21, 2012
Correspondent : IANS
New Delhi, Dec 20: India has managed to protect nearly 1,504 species of butterflies discovered in the subcontinent despite threats to their survival by sporadic forest fires and depleting green cover, says leading butterfly researcher and environmentalist Peter Smetacek.

“The most beautiful and endangered of the five specimens of butterflies collected from an unknown valley in Bhutan in 1934 have been rediscovered in India,” said Smetacek, who manages the Butterfly Research Centre at Bhimtal in Uttarakhand.

The researcher believes the delicate winged creatures are not threatened by extinction.

Providing insights into the research work on butterflies in Asia, Smetacek said: “The Japanese researchers have identified and documented more than 250 new species of butterflies from Asia, including India”. “The new species of butterfly found in India was the Nilgiri Grass Yellow. Their work is more than what any government has ever done,” the naturalist said.

Smetacek has written more than 60 papers on butterflies and has pioneered the use of lepidoptera (butterflies) as indicators of climate change. He has put his work together in “Butterflies: On the Roof Of the World (Aleph Book Company).”

The writer’s most fertile hunting ground is the Himalayan region, where he says some of the most exotic specimens of butterflies are found between the elevation of 1,200 metres and 5,000 metres.

While in the high Himalayas, moth fend off the butterflies, in the lower reaches cattle are the traditional butterfly destroyers, the researcher said.

The researcher regretted that “a lot of work on butterflies has gone underground because no one wants to come out and say ‘I collect butterflies’ since the bio-diversity act came into force.”

The law does not allow collection of butterflies for commercial use. The butterfly tracker has now limited his research to moths as there is no law to stop him from collecting moths. (IANS)

 
SOURCE : http://www.sentinelassam.com/national/story.php?sec=2&subsec=3&id=143182&dtP=2012-12-21&ppr=1
 


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