Butterfly park still elusive

Chennai: The much-awaited butterfly park at Vandalur zoo proposed way back in 2001 is yet to see the light of day. After several years of discussion, the project got administrative sanction in 2013 for Rs4.5 crore. But almost two years have passed since the project was started and it is yet to cross the half-way mark.Forest department officials declared that the park will be ready by 2013, but to the dismay of the public, the forest department is yet to start their part of the work on 2.6 hectares.

“Construction work in the butterfly park at the Arignar Anna zoological park that was expected to be ready last year, is moving at snail’s pace as the PWD has not completed its part of construction and this has stalled the ecological works scheduled by the forest department,” admitted zoo insiders.“By the first week of next year, our work will be over and we will hand over the park to the zoo for further development. The existing plants will be pruned and a park will be created outside the butterfly enclosure,” said V. Venkatesh, a contractor appointed by the PWD to execute the preliminary work.

Zoo authorities explained that there were a lot of technicalities involved in the state-of-the-art project that led to the delay. “We are waiting for the PWD to finish their part and the butterfly park will be ready by the middle of next year.”An official said as of now, only native and nectar plants have been identified for the park; and the species of butterflies to be introduced is yet to be explored.

Currently, there are 56 species of butterflies in the zoo, including five endemic pansy butterfly varieties such as lemon, yellow, blue, chocolate and peacock. According to a study by biologists of the zoo in 2010, rainfall largely determines the availability of host plants and butterflies and the maximum number of species is seen in August to February, immediately after the rains, and the minimum, April to July when rainfall is scarce.

“It is better to have vegetation that grows well in the Vandalur area and rear butterflies that suit the habitat. We should ignore exotic species,” opined A. Kumaraguru, wildlife conservation scientist.“Butterfly host plants are important when you create a butterfly garden to provide a site for the butterfly to lay eggs and also food source for the emerging caterpillar. Butterflies cannot travel far to lay eggs and they locate and lay eggs on only the type of plant that the caterpillar can use as food,” he added.