20-05-2025
- Science
- New Indian Express
Migration Miracle
The sheer and utter incomprehensibility of life and its scope never ceases to confound us. Amongst the countless species in our tiny blue planet, the life cycle of a butterfly is a particularly curious case: how is one to explain that a caterpillar which has grown from a minute pupa, would grow further to the point of spurting out wings? Of late, the city has been witnessing their visual cacophony, outside balconies, or office windows, as they migrate. Hordes of various species were seen in areas like JP Nagar, Koramangala, and Indiranagar.
Monsoon Migration
As Shonali Chinniah, director and owner at Curiouscity Science Centre, explains, 'Butterflies, particularly Dark Blue Tiger, Blue Tiger, Common Crow, and Double Branded Crow migrate seasonally in response to the monsoon cycle. Studies highlight that these butterflies travel from the Western Ghats to the Eastern Ghats, between May and June, to avoid the torrential South-West monsoon that hit their larval habitats in the Western Ghats. Their migration ensures survival by allowing them to breed alternately in the plains and in the hills. During October through November they migrate back from the Eastern to the Western Ghats.' Lepidopterist Rohit Girotra adds that 'the migration depends on the intensity and duration of the monsoon'.
