The pristine seaside of Dhanushkodi on the southern-most tip of the Rameswaram island within the Indian peninsula has witnessed a uncommon phenomenon over the previous few days.

1000’s of Crimson Rose butterflies swarmed all accessible flowering crops alongside the seaside. It was their stopover for nectaring, earlier than the butterflies undertook their final flight in the direction of Sri Lanka, which is round 25 km away from the tip of Dhanushkodi.

Crimson Rose, a big butterfly with a mixture of black, white and crimson colors on its wings and physique, is thought for crossing the ocean emigrate to Sri Lanka.

Specialists say that the current migration from Dhanushkodi in massive numbers is critical. Paulmathi Vinod and Vinod Sadasivan from The Nature and Butterfly Society (TNBS) and unbiased observer S. Chandrasekaran witnessed each stage of the phenomenon. Based on them, one after the other, the butterflies used the shoreline like a predetermined path and continued their journey.

Probably the most fascinating and visually beautiful facet of the migration was that the butterflies made small pit stops on flowering crops on the seaside to gas their journey, they mentioned.

Crimson Roses had been noticed on Ipomea flowers and Half leaf flowers on the seaside. The grandest gathering was on a Calotropis gigantea plant which was the only plant within the neighborhood. Every butterfly spent about 30 seconds on nectaring after which continued its journey in the direction of Sri Lanka.

“We couldn’t cease to surprise the significance of this little gas cease as this might imply the distinction between a profitable crossing or a deadly ocean tragedy. This gathering simply exhibits the significance of native seaside vegetation within the journey of a butterfly and the significance of defending the seashores of their authentic pristine kind,” mentioned Paulmathi Vinod.

Based on A. Pavendhan of TNBS, Crimson Rose, which belongs to the Swallowtails (Papilionidae) household, is thought emigrate alongside the coast, inland and crosses the ocean typically.

“Crimson Roses crossing the ocean from Rameswaram and their presence within the Sri Lanka have been reported earlier. The present remark is critical for the reason that magnitude of migration was clearly noticed and reported together with the meals cease, they undertook. The TNBS group additionally noticed an analogous phenomenon, however at a decrease scale from the Kanniyakumari coastal traces too,” he mentioned.

One other vital issue of the migration was that the delicate creatures selected to cross the ocean from Dhanushkodi, which is among the closest Indian seashores from Sri Lanka.

Biologist and researcher H. Byju mentioned that he has noticed Crimson Roses flying in the direction of Sri Lanka from the mainland and Gulf of Mannar islands from 2016. Sure different butterfly species present in Tamil Nadu are additionally recognized for his or her migration in response to the local weather and meals availability, he mentioned.

Migration by Tigers and Crows from the sub-family Danainae of Nymphalidae are recognized emigrate simply earlier than the onset of the Southwest and Northeast monsoons from the Western Ghats to the Japanese Ghats and plains, and vice versa. Butterfly species like Frequent Emigrant, Frequent Albatross and Lime Butterfly are additionally recognized to undertake migration on massive scale, mentioned Mr. Pavendhan.