Winged guests at Karanji Lake

Don’t miss a chance to visit Butterfly Park located in the midst of the evergreen Karanji Lake, which is surrounded by a Nature Park consisting of a walk-through aviary. This is the first butterfly park in the State and these beautiful winged guests, fluttering from flower to flower all over the park, provide a glorious sight, interspersed with the chirping of birds.
The project to make Karanji Lake suitable for butterflies was formulated by the Mysore Zoo during 1999 by the then Zoo Executive Director Rajashekhar, DCF and the Butterfly Park was created on a small island of over one acre in the same year. In the initial days about 15 dif-ferent species of butterflies were let in this park, where they bred and multiplied. Now, these butterflies have descended upon the Lake and have lent colours to the environs, especially the trees, shrubs and bushes on which they perch.
Flowering plants are carefully selected and grown in the park with the help of a botanist to attract butterflies. The specially cultivated plants here are Jatropha, Crotalaria, Augusta, Poinsettia, Lemon Tree, Murraya koenigii (Karibevu). Some of these plants have been brought from hill stations and other region also.
A wide variety of butterflies like Grey Pansy, Lemon Pansy, Peacock Pansy, Yellow Pansy, Tailed Jay, Blue Mormon, Common Mormon, Crimson Rose, Common emigrant, Tawny Coster, Blue tiger, Paint tiger, Striped tiger, Danid egg fly and many more are seen dotting the park. Red Pierrot with twin heads captivates the onlookers making them difficult to drag their eyes away from them.
Butterflies are most active on warm and sunny days because they require heat of the sun to aid in their digestion. But on rainy days and gloomy atmosphere, they usually hide in the flowers and leaves and they rest their.
Many species of adult butterfly live only for one or two weeks. Some familiar species like Monarch butterfly survive for six months or even longer in the wild. Since more swarms of butterflies are expected to migrate to the lake after the monsoon.
Butterflies are seen more in the month of April and May and from October to November.

[October 22, 2009]