Butterflies take to wings on Rajyotsava

Bengaluru : Marking the 65th year of Karnataka formation day, the Bannerghatta Biological Park in this tech city on Sunday released a video on the activity pattern of butterflies.

“The 1.5-minute video was shot by wildlife photographer T.J. Siddharth with Grammy award winner Ricky Kej’s music from Wild Karnataka in the butterfly park’s southern bird wing,” said the state-run zoo in a statement here.

The southern bird wing butterfly, called ‘Troides minios’ is designated as the state insect, as its colours match Karnataka’s flag in yellow and red colours.

“With 140-190mm wingspan, the colourful butterfly is the largest insect of its kind in the country. Primarily endemic to South India, the insect is found in abundance across Karnataka,” said the statement.

Karnataka State Human Rights Commission Chairman Justice D.H. Waghela released the short video on the occasion.

“Butterflies have a special place in the insect world. Some of them named ‘Flying Jewels’ indicate they are beautiful, elusive and fascinating,” said the park on its website.

Set up in 2007 as an integrated centre for education and research, the butterfly park in the sprawling zoo is a role model to replicate in conservation of flora and fauna in other zoos.

“The 7.5-acre park has a butterfly trail of 1 km length. It leads visitors to three dome structures, housing the conservatory, museum and the multi-media centre,” said the park.

The conservatory leads into a museum, which provides information on the insects through dioramas with their host plants.

“The park has 48 species of butterflies in different seasons in the zoo. They breed in captive conditions and are released into the conservatory dome,” added the park.