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Days with butterflies
Watching and studying about butterflies, their habits as well as identifying new species... all these turned out to be a different experience for the students of two schools in the city and for those from the school near Palode, as part of the "Butterfly Camp" organised jointly by the Ashoka Trust for Research in Ecology and Environment, Bangalore (ATREE) and the city-based group of nature lovers, the `Warblers and Waders'.
For the 50-member student team, which consisted of the students from the Loyola school, Sreekaryam, the Chempaka school in the city and the Palode Paluvalli Upper Primary School, the experiences in the butterfly gardening project in their schools turned out to be of great help.
Sharing the experiences of the observations made in the garden was a main aspect in the camp. The students of the Paluvally UPS went a step further in this aspect as they could watch several rare butterflies during the past one year as a result of the closeness to the reserve forest areas. The camp was organised as part of the butterfly gardening project carried out in some schools by the ATREE and Warblers and Waders.
The camp members were also able to sight some rare butterfly species such as the Fluffy Tit, Aberrant Oak blue, Blackveined sergeant and the Ceylon Ace. The students also sighted the endangered species of butterflies such as the Southern Birdwing, Malabar branded swallowtail and the Malabar Rose during the camp.
Yet another attraction for the students of the camp was the ant watching carried out in the camp under the guidance of Merry Zacharias of the ATREE for studying about the life of ants as well as to watch spiders mimicking ants and also to see the life of some spiders which resemble ants.
"The idea of butterfly gardening was started with the idea of cultivating an interest towards nature conservation in the minds of students. This scheme which was successful in the schools was given more strength through frequent camps in the reserve forests to make students more friendly towards nature," says C. Susanth of the Warblers and Waders.
The Ashoka Trust for Research in Ecology and Environment which had successfully carried out the Butterfly gardening programme in some schools in the city with the assistance of the Warblers and Waders is planning to implement this scheme in more schools in the coming years.
By Hari Sundar G
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Life
Bangalore
Chennai
Hyderabad
Kochi
Madurai
Thiruvananthapuram
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