Tropical Butterfly Conservatory Tiruchirappalli (TBCT) "EMPOWER IAS"

In news:

• The Tropical Butterfly Conservatory in Tiruchirapalli in Tamil Nadu is considered as a unique institution to conserve the insect species.

 

Tropical Butterfly Conservatory

• The TBC is located in the Upper Anaicut Reserve Forest, sandwiched between the Cauvery and Kollidam rivers in Tiruchirappalli.
• It was inaugurated during November 2015 at Tiruchirappalli with the objective of propagating the importance of butterflies and conserving the biodiversity of the district through environmental education.
• It  is spread over 27 acres and is considered to be Asia’s largest butterfly park.
• The park has an outdoor as well as indoor conservatory, a ‘Nakshatra Vanam’ and a ‘Rasi Vanam’ in addition to a breeding lab for non-scheduled species.
• So far, about 109 butterfly species have been observed here.

 

 

Nakshatra Vanam & Rasi Vanam

• The Nakshatra Vanam and Rasi Vanam are unique components of the conservatory. In Nakshatra Vanam, 27 trees corresponding to the 27 ‘nakshatra’ or stars were planted.
• Similarly, in Rasi Vanam, a garden composed of 12 tree corresponding to the 12 ‘rasi’ or zodiac signs was created. This is to encourage people to plant and nurture trees.

 

Breeding Lab

• The conservatory has a breeding lab to improve the butterfly population. In this lab, a junior research fellow is engaged in breeding non-scheduled butterfly species and also monitoring them. The population of butterflies in the region has increased over the years.

 

Conservation measures

• Eggs of non-scheduled butterfly species are collected and bred in captivity in the in-house incubation laboratory by keeping them in ventilated plastic containers with the leaves of host plants as feed.
• After attaining the transformation of larva (caterpillar) and pupa (transition), the adult butterfly finally comes out with gorgeous colours and at this stage they are released into the natural habitat.
• Non-scheduled butterfly species are bred and released by the park authorities into their natural surroundings.

 

Significance of butterflies

• Butterflies are known for their intrinsic, aesthetic, educational, scientific, ecological, health and economic values.
• As butterflies form an important part of nature’s food web, it is very essential to protect the species for ecological balance.
• They play a key role in the pollination of plant species, the global food chain depends on their well-being.

 

Various threats

• The major threats to butterfly diversity are destruction, degradation and fragmentation of their habitats, grazing, fires and application of pesticides and weedicides in agricultural and urban ecosystems.