Chandigarh, December 27, 2017: The Blue Admiral butterfly scientifically known as Kaniska canace is a large, striking butterfly having wingspan of 60-75 mm and dark body and wings with couple of white spots with distinctive blue stripes on the wings is an eye catching butterfly.
This is a rapid flyer but when disturbed it flies so fast to be chased with eyes but its habit is just like Indian Red Admiral Butterfly which settle almost at the same place or nearby. Its caterpillars are having black and orange bodies with spiky hairs, sprouting mushroom-like tufts on whole the body.
A butterfly enthusiast and special correspondent, Kulbhushan Kanwar clicked THE Blue Admiral Butterfly in the Butterfly Park.
According to him, there are other butterflies just like Commander, Anomalous Nawab, Vagrant, Orange Oakleaf which use to visit the park for breeding on the host plants but did not settle here due to non-availability of variety of nectar and minerals in-spite of lots of flowering. Anomalous Nawab never seen before in the butterfly park but due to supplement nectar they are frequent visitors.
This butterfly is found in northern areas like Siberia, west of Japan and Korea, Taiwan, Shri Lanka, Burma, Indonesia, Nepal, Pakistan and Bhutan. In India it is found in J&K to Arunachal Pradesh in Northeast and also in hills of south India.
According to Santosh Kumar, Indian Forest Service (IFS) officer, spotting this butterfly was the result of providing supplement nectar in the Butterfly Park. "We have selected number of spots for overripe fruits and prepared a bed for mud-paddling for the butterflies providing minerals to enable their daily need," he said.
There are number of species of butterflies who feed on bird-droppings, dead animals, dump-patches, tree-sap and we are trying now to create friendly atmosphere so they can stay in the park and not come for breeding only. "We have lots of host plants for breeding of butterflies and more plants in the pipe-line," he added.