Garden city attracts country's first butterfly park

Bangalore, Nov 24: The country's first and world's largest butterfly park, set up at a cost of Rs five crore on the premises of Bannerghatta Biological Park near this garden city, will be dedicated to the nation by Union Minister for Science and Technology Kapil Sibal tomorrow.

Ms V Geethanjali, the Executive Director and Deputy Conservator of Forests, Bannerghatta Biological Park, told newspersons here that the butterfly park was set up as a joint initiative of the Union Department of Bio-Technology, the Karnataka Government, University of Agricultural Sciences and Ashoka Trust for Research in Ecology and Environment (ATREE), an NGO.

She said the butterfly park, coming up in seven acres of land, was nestled between rivulets, wetlands and a hillock, an ideal place for many species of butterflies. It comprised a butterfly conservatory, museum, an audio visual room, butterfly rearing house, plant rearing house and host plant garden which enabled captive breeding of butterflies throughout all seasons.

By undertaking 'Butterfly trail', visitors would get an opportunity to watch a minimum of 45 species of butterflies, including endangered ones, all through the year. The huge dome of 120 x 40 size 'Butterfly Conservatory', meeting all possible habitat requirements, offered visitors a closer watch of butterflies. The Museum would have dioramas and other exhibits, including computer animations depicting various facets of its life.

Ms Geethanjali said that after studying the pros and cons of the project, the National Bio-resource Development Board (NBDB) and Union Department of Biotechnology decided to set up the country's first butterfly park, intended to promote greater public awareness and appreciation and to facilitate conservation of butterflies, besides breeding endangered butterfly species in captivity.

She said the butterfly park would also serve as an active centre for environmental education, research, conservation and enhance rural livelihood. The education and research activities envisaged to be undertaken in the park would offer insights into basic biology, life history and ecological roles of butterflies, besides boosting eco-tourism. It would also serve as a window to scientists, students and the general public for conservation, education and aesthetics.

Ms Geethanjali said India was home to about 1,500 species of butterflies out of the about 17,000 species across the world. A total of 450 species, about one-third of the country's butterfly fauna, was protected by law under the Indian Wildlife Protection Act, 1972.

''In future, the Bannerghatta Biological Park will be a centre of excellence for research, education and conservation of butterflies and will be a unique institute of its kind in the country,'' she said.

UNI