HP University's awarness drive on butterflies

Shimla, Nov 18 (UNI) In order to preserve and protect the butterfly wealth of the Himalayan region, the Himachal Pradesh University (HPU) has decided to launch an awarness drive in the states of the northern region.

Apart from this intiative, the University has already made a valuable contribution to the Butterfly Museum which has been set up at the Government Museum and Art Gallery in Chandigarh.

This Museum, the first of its kind in the north will be formally inagurated on November 22.

The University has so far donated 400 specimens of 87 species of butterflies to this Museum.

To promote this tiny winged beauty, the University will display the different butterfly species of the Himalayan belt in a mobile van which would tour the states of northern India. The focus of these vans would be the school going children. The University's entomologists from the Department of Bio Sciences would accompany this van and would also gather butterfly collections from donors.'' We will showcase the natural wealth of our region in this van'', D V K Mattu of the department stated.

During these butterfly promotion tours, students would be made aware of the technical, scientific and common names of the winged specimens along with the importance of each butterfly species.

''Butterflies are things of beauty, with nature having bestowed numerious patterns and colours on these delicate winged beauties'', Dr Matoo said. These eye catching insects would definitely create artistic and scientific interest in the young minds, he added.

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