KUMUD JENAMANI
Jamshedpur, April 1: Dalma Hills might be a home for wild elephants, the sprawling hill situated on the Western fringe of the steel city is also known for its scores of other animals like wolves, bears, mongoose, languor and even reptiles.
A wide range of birds, including eagles and cuckoos are also found abundantly in Dalma which is filled with flora and fauna.
But very few among us are aware that the hill is also considered to be an ideal atmosphere for Lepidoptera — butterflies and moths.
Butterflies and moths might be tiny winged creatures, with no comparison with the mighty pachyderms when it comes to the coexistence in the sprawling hill, but the presence of the Lepidoptera undoubtedly adds colour to it which makes it a wonderful place to visit.
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Forest Department to Organize Butterfly Week
Keeping the presence of various types of butterflies on the hill, the forest department is going to observe “Butterfly Week” sometime in April or the next month.
Observing Butterfly Week now assumes significance because during this period of the year Dalma Hills bustles with a large and varied number of butterflies.
A senior official of the Dalma Hill Sanctuary said holding the Butterfly Week is going to be a big event.
“Aimed at creating awareness among the people about how to protect a healthy environment like that is Dalma, the event is expected to be attended by environmental experts and NGOs working in the ecology from several states, people living in the surrounding Dalma Hills, school children and of course by a scores of forest department officials. The date of the program is yet to be fixed, but it will be held sometime in April or in May,” said the official while talking to The Jharkhand Story.
Dalma’s Impressive Butterfly Diversity
The official pointed out that during the Butterfly Week the visitors will be made aware of how many species of butterflies exist in the Dalma and the importance of these tiny winged creatures in maintaining the environmental balance there.
In the past, the Zoological Survey (ZSI) of India carried out a survey on the number of butterflies species in Dalma and established that about 120 species of butterflies are found there.
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But a forester, Raja Ghosh, who is like a resource person despite working in the forest department during his stint in the Dalma had found more than 180 types of butterflies in the Dalma Hills.
Ghosh who carried out the exercise tenaciously is said to have found certain species of the butterflies which are rare in the eastern region.
