Tiruchy butterfly park steps into 11th year with two new species
The butterfly park, with an outlay of Rs 8.67 crore on a sprawling 25-acre land at Melur near Srirangam, was opened by the late Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa when she visited the city in 2015
Tropical Butterfly Conservatory; (r) recently sighted common palm fly, baronet species
TIRUCHY: The Tropical Butterfly Conservatory, the biggest butterfly park in Asia, housing as many as 131 species, completed its tenth anniversary, with 20.81 lakh people having visited the park till November.
The butterfly park, with an outlay of Rs 8.67 crore on a sprawling 25-acre land at Melur near Srirangam, was opened by the late Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa when she visited the city in 2015. The park has now become an important landmark for Tiruchy residents, with the number of visitors significantly surging every year.
Various facilities at the centre include an indoor butterfly conservatory, outdoor butterfly conservatory, breeding laboratory, nursery and shade nest house, host plant farm, interpretation facilities, children's park, 'raasi and nakshatra vanam' and tourist infrastructure facilities. Similarly, host, nectar and roosting plants are being raised for the butterflies. Several awareness programmes for more than 2 lakh students and researchers have been held on the premises.
According to the officials from the forest department, the centre's main objective is to preserve the butterflies and protect the environment. Until November 30, 20.81 lakh people have visited the park. Of around 18,000 species of butterflies in the world, 1,800 are present in India. Of which, Tamil Nadu houses as many as 329 species.
“Several changes were implemented in the conservatory this year, catering to the demand of the visitors. As the Upper Anicut area reserve forest has favourable climatic conditions, the number of species has been increasing year by year," an official noted.
Pointing out that only 38 species were present initially, he said, “At present, there are 131 species of butterflies, and there are 60,000 plants to facilitate the breeding of butterflies."
"Recently, two new species, the common palm fly and baronet, were sighted in the conservatory. With this development, out of the total species present in Tamil Nadu, 39 per cent are found in the Tiruchy Tropical Butterfly Conservatory," the official added.
