Infographic: Chinese tiger butterfly. (The chinese tiger and butterfly pictures after feathering in this article are all taken by Zhang Hua)
Every year, when the spring is cold, there are always some butterflies with black stripes on a yellow background in Laoshan, attracting groups of researchers and enthusiasts in their dancing. This stripe resembles tabby, which is the famous "Chinese tiger butterfly". For the citizens of Nanjing, it is no stranger. They are endemic to China and are rare and protected animals.
However, this is a "national treasure" in the eyes of insect experts, a lifetime in the pupa for about 300 days, after feathering can only fly for more than 20 days, mating and laying eggs and then die, just like a "full of stars" fireworks, silent for a long time after the most beautiful burning quickly disappeared.
Recently, the reporter came to the Nanjing China Tiger and Butterfly Nature Museum located at the foot of Nanjing Laoshan Mountain, which is the first themed butterfly museum in China. This issue of "Small Pavilions and Big Things" will look at their gorgeous and short lives through the perspective of the museum.
1 minute video to see the life of the Chinese tiger butterfly ↓
Adult worms for more than a month of "binge eating",
Just to be a "slacker" for 300 days
For a Chinese tiger butterfly, the life begins from the egg stage and also passes through the larval stage, pupal stage and adult stage. But for most of its life, it has shrunk in a chrysalis and changed a little. After feathering into a beautiful butterfly, it only survives for more than 20 days.
The museum houses a wealth of butterfly specimens from all over the world. Purple Mountain reporter Wang Lihua photographed
Their habitat and food source is Du Heng, an ancient plant that, more than 2,000 years ago, was Qu Yuan's vanilla "Du Ruo", interpreted as a gentleman and a sage.
In early March every year, they are feathered and feathered, and lucky citizens can see them in Laoshan, Purple Mountain, Niushou Mountain and other places. In people's eyes, this is their most beautiful appearance.
But in fact, they spend more time growing silently. Museum staff Hu Jing told reporters that Chinese tiger butterflies often lay eggs on the back of DuHeng's leaves in late March to avoid danger and direct sunlight, and the eggs are next to each other like small pearls. In about 20 days, they will hatch into larvae. "First-instar larvae tend to cluster in rows and when they feel dangerous, they stick out orange-yellow stinky glands and emit a foul smell, which is a way for them to protect themselves."
Eggs of the Chinese tiger butterfly
In the larval stage of more than a month, they undergo 5 molts. "At the age of 4 to 5 they eat a lot because they store their body's energy for the next 300 days of pupal." Hu Jing said with a smile.
After pupalization, the "snoozing" they hide in the hard pupal shell and slowly develop, the coldest and hottest time will suspend the development, the dark brown shell can be "confused" when predators pass by.
It was not until mid-to-early March of the following year that they broke free from the pupae and lasted for a year before finally feathering into butterflies. However, there is not much time left for them, they have to complete mating and laying eggs in about 20 days, and then they fly away to the end of their lives.
Is the Chinese tiger butterfly not a "phoenix butterfly" in foreign countries?
It is a "phoenix butterfly" and a "silk butterfly"
Chinese tiger butterflies are born annually, and each female butterfly lays about 120 eggs. It also has many natural enemies during its growth process, and only about 10 may eventually feather into adult insects. These reasons have made the Chinese tiger butterfly a rare animal, and it became the "biological business card" of Jiangsu as the only animal selected in the 2008 provincial representative biological selection activities.
The Species of Chinese Tiger Butterfly is also somewhat special. In foreign countries, the Chinese tiger butterfly has another name, known as the "Chinese tiger silk butterfly".
"There are very many species of butterflies in the world, about 20,000 species, but the Chinese tiger butterfly is one of the few species with the characteristics of the silk butterfly and the butterfly family." Zhang Songkui, director of the Nanjing Chinese Tiger butterfly nature museum, told reporters that most of the hindwings of the butterfly have tail-like protrusions; and after the silk butterfly mates, the male's secretions will stick to the scales and form a "hip bag" at the tail end of the female's abdomen, thus avoiding the female from mating with other males.
The Chinese tiger butterfly has the characteristics of both families, which is very rare in butterflies.
Chinese Tiger butterfly nature museum. Purple Mountain reporter Wang Lihua photographed
This year's synchronous survey recorded more than 100,
The number of "squeamish" butterflies is generally on the decline
Nanjing is an area with a large number of Chinese tiger butterflies, and due to the continuous changes in its habitat by humans over the years, it has a great impact on the number of Chinese tiger butterflies living here.
In 2018, Nanjing conducted a synchronous survey of the threat of the Chinese tiger and butterfly population, which was also the first time in the country. After training the participants, they recorded 83 Chinese tigers and butterflies at 23 points, including Laoshan, Purple Mountain, Niushou Mountain, and Shogunate Mountain.
Zhang Songkui introduced that this year invited a team of experts to study insects and plants to launch a new round of synchronous investigation with scientific methods. "According to the living habits of the Chinese tiger and butterfly, we explored 8 lines in Laoshan. More than 20 experts and teachers observed more than 100 Chinese tigers and butterflies on the sample line. "These data and habitat information will be summarized and provided to relevant departments, which is of great significance for the study and protection of Chinese tigers and butterflies."
Infographic: Chinese tiger butterfly
However, Zhang Songkui is still more worried about the existing living environment of the Chinese tiger butterfly.
Studies have shown that the Chinese tiger butterfly is more "squeamish" and likes to live in the forest edge area. Through years of observation, Zhang Songkui believes that the "depression" in the habitat is different, and the number of Chinese tigers and butterflies observed will also be different. "Living in a depression of 0.5 to 0.7 is ideal for them. Generally speaking, in the environment with gentle slopes, flowing water and deciduous forests, it is the most suitable habitat for Chinese tigers and butterflies. ”
In Zhang Songkui's view, moderate artificial intervention is more conducive to the growth of Chinese tiger butterflies. "Before the 1980s, the people on the mountain side cut firewood and cooked rice, mostly from the dry trees and grasses on the mountain side, and this unintentional artificial intervention allowed Du Heng to grow better under the forest, which was also beneficial for the Chinese tiger and phoenix butterfly female butterfly to find an egg laying place."
In addition, in the process of urbanization, more and more land has been expropriated, changing the habitat of chinese tigers and butterflies, and posing a certain threat to their survival. Zhang Songkui, who has been studying chinese tiger butterflies for nearly 40 years, feels that although the number of Chinese tiger butterflies in Nanjing is not yet extinct, their number and the general trend of the quality of the living environment is declining.
Protecting the Chinese tiger butterfly,
Not just for the Chinese tiger butterfly
"Chinese tiger butterflies and silkworm moths are not the same, why should they be protected?" The reporter asked incomprehensibly when he saw several tourists watching in the museum.
A small butterfly, the relationship with human survival, does not seem so intuitive. "The purpose of protecting the Chinese tiger butterfly is not limited to protecting the Chinese tiger butterfly itself," Zhang Songkui said, "they have a very important connection with the environment." ”
Among many organisms, butterflies are recognized as the most sensitive indicator species to climate change. In 2016, the Ministry of Environmental Protection for the first time to use butterflies to conduct biodiversity observations nationwide, this attempt is actually a precedent - many countries in Europe and the United States use butterflies to monitor climate and environmental changes, which is not only low cost, but also very effective.
In other words, the use of butterflies to observe climate and environmental changes has an early warning effect on the occurrence of extreme weather phenomena.
In addition, humans and ecosystems are an opposing unity, organisms are linked by biological chains, interdependent and coexist, maintaining the natural quantitative balance between species, and changes in ecological balance will affect the development and survival of human beings.
Source: Purple Mountain