Aralam in Kerala to Be India's First Butterfly Sanctuary

The Wire

02-07-2025

Aathira Perinchery
2 minutes ago
The Aralam Wildlife Sanctuary in north Kerala will soon be called Aralam Butterfly Sanctuary, a celebration of its importance as a habitat for migrating butterflies in the Western Ghats.
On June 18, the Kerala State Wildlife Board decided to rename Aralam Wildlife Sanctuary as Aralam Butterfly Sanctuary. While there are many wildlife sanctuaries and national parks that host a huge diversity of butterfly species, what stands out about Aralam is the sheer numbers of some butterfly species that pass through the sanctuary as part of their seasonal or annual migration routes.
Migrating masses
One of them is the common albatross, a butterfly that dons pale cream-yellow wings. The sight of just one common albatross may make an on-looker wonder what's special about it: it is rather plain and nondescript. But these butterflies migrate, en masse, from the high altitude hills of Aralam (nearly 1,600 meters Above Sea Level) to its plains (around 60 metres ASL) and onto the banks of the Cheenkanni river, between December and February. And this is when they emerge in hundreds, thousands and lakhs.
Common albatrosses (as well as some other species) congregate in these large numbers on stream and river banks, and 'mudpuddle': a phenomenon where butterflies, mostly males, rest on wet soil and slurp up salts and minerals such as sodium from the earth.
The common albatross butterfly. Photo: David Raju.
In the year 2000, a team of naturalists under the aegis of the Malabar Natural History Society (MNHS) began counting these butterflies and studying their migratory patterns by conducting yearly surveys in collaboration with forest staff and officials of the Aralam Wildlife Sanctuary. The survey this year (which marked 25 years of this exercise) conducted on two days in mid January involved participants counting butterflies from vantage points in bursts of five minute-periods, what are called 'point counts'. These counts estimated between three to four lakh albatrosses passing through Aralam in one day, said Muahmed Jafer Palot, a scientist with the Zoological Survey of India who has been associated with the MNHS in the past.
'We don't know where they are going, that's one of the many aspects biologists need to do research on,' Palot said.
Unfortunately the banks of the Cheenkanni river are also witness to sand mining – an unregulated activity that threatens the butterflies' mudpuddling sites here, he added.
Apart from butterflies such as albatrosses that mudpuddle, there are others that just hang out together or 'roost' — in lakhs for a few days every year, as they migrate through Aralam. Butterfly species belonging to a subfamily called Danainae - also called danaids or milkweed butterflies - engage in this phenomenon. The most well-known milkweed butterfly roosts are of the monarch butterfly in the United States. In India, and Aralam specifically, butterfly species such as blue tigers (a species named for its blue and black striped wing patterns), and common and striped tigers (which display striking orange and black stripes) roost together in lakhs as they migrate between October and November, Palot told The Wire.
'It's hard to believe it but sometimes small tree branches and stalks even break under their weight,' Palot said. In 2012, survey teams counted more than four lakh danaids in Aralam at one time, thousands dangling on each tree.
'A celebration of butterflies'
David V. Raju, a naturalist and avid photographer, told The Wire that he first attended the butterfly migration survey in Aralam 20 years ago, and has also participated in many of these annual events in the years that followed.
'What's happening in Aralam is nothing short of a celebration of butterflies. Everyone who takes part is deeply interested and passionate about these winged jewels. Even if you're not a butterfly enthusiast at first, attending the butterfly survey will almost certainly change that. And if you're lucky enough to witness the breathtaking migration or congregation, you'll find yourself falling in love with them forever,' he added.
'And if you're lucky enough to witness the breathtaking migration or congregation, you'll find yourself falling in love with them forever'. Photo: David Raju.
Raju believes that the tag of a 'butterfly sanctuary' will make a difference to the butterflies, the sanctuary, and the people who live near it in several ways.
'Firstly, it will give Aralam much wider visibility, it truly deserves to be known by more people,' Raju told The Wire.
'Secondly, the butterfly migration is a spectacular natural event, a true wildlife phenomenon that should be celebrated and shared with a broader audience.'
And third, the increased attention that the butterflies bring can benefit local communities, according to Raju. 'As more people visit, locals can engage in conservation efforts while also gaining financial support through eco-tourism and related activities,' he added.
Plans are on to declare three panchayats in the vicinity as 'butterfly villages' and develop eco-development committees comprising local communities so that they can take visitors on butterfly walks that can increase awareness about these winged wonders while at the same time benefiting financially by offering these services to visitors, Palot said. A 'butterfly festival' for children is also in the works to inculcate interest in young minds, he added.
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