Butterfly swarms trigger quake scare

Priya Yadav, TNN 17 August 2009, 05:02am IST

CHANDIGARH: Call it a gift of delayed monsoon but the sheer volume of butterflies swarming the region have set off an earthquake alarm despite zoologists' assurances that no such cataclysm will strike.

As the rains, patchy, have come after much delay, the sudden burst of yellow-orange winged visitors have left the people unnerved. The last two days, which have been wet, have provided the people a rare spectacle of butterflies moving en masse. "They are seasonal," says H S Mehta, additional director, Zoological Survey of India. "With a sudden change in climate due to rains, the butterflies are migrating. Thousands have congregated and are moving from plains to higher elevations."

The phenomenon hasn't been lost on those driving up to Shimla on an extended weekend. Those coming from Delhi have reported mass migration of white butterflies, of Pieridae species, with the hordes thickening near Parwanoo.

Those in the plains have been mesmerized by these floating clouds. "They appear like a yellowish-orange wave in the sky," claimed Varinder Walia, professor of zoology, Panjab University. "I had people calling me up at all hours, asking whether it was some kind of a warning of impending natural calamity like an earthquake," he said.

With environment high on agenda at all forums across the world, people have a reason to panic. The fauna kingdom - animals, birds and insects included - is known to sense things before humans. When the tsunami had struck, there were reports of animals climbing to higher regions on the Andaman Isles.

"Butterflies mean no harm," declares P Singh, a geologist with Geological Survey of India. "There's no link between mass butterfly movement and earthquakes."

In total agreement with him, Walia claims, "The hot and moist weather is very conducive for butterflies. They get nutrition from trees and lay eggs just where delicate tendrils shoot out. You'll witness this marvel for another month. The cocoon hatching and fluttering migration will continue till October," say experts.

Panjab University's botanist R K Kohli attributes the flock to "rows of cassia siamea and chukrasia tabularis, also known as Chittagong wood, on either side of Madhya Marg... which trees attract butterflies".

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