Spring returns to the earth, butterflies dance and bees fly.
The land of abundance under the hot spring sun is rich and beautiful. Facing the bright spring, people poured out of the city to travel; Go to see pear blossoms and peach blossoms and find Diaolou ancient town; Fly kites and wash hot springs; Go to see butterflies.
Sichuan not only ranks among the best in the number of butterfly varieties in China, but also has so many rare and peculiar butterflies that experts are amazed. The face of butterflies in China was known to the world for the first time, which started in Sichuan.
Butterfly, the most beautiful creature in nature. With its gorgeous and graceful posture, it won the reputation of "flying flowers". There were more than 5,000 poems, words and articles about butterflies in ancient China. Zhuangzi daydreaming in Li Shangyin's Jinse, the cuckoo's crow by Wang Xinquan, the butterfly yellow in August, hovering in the grass in the west garden by Li Bai, Du Fu's Peeping at the butterfly in the flower and Xie Yi's Where to find the pear flower have become famous sentences throughout the ages. In the west, works describing butterflies appeared more than 500 years ago, and the formal research can be traced back to the butterfly classification system founded by the famous biologist Linnai in 1758. The data shows that 16800 species of butterflies have been found in the world up to now.
Sichuan's special geographical environment has created many rare and peculiar butterfly species, so our province is regarded as one of the most valuable areas for butterfly research in the world by international experts. Papilio fuscipes and Papilio rostrata in the mountainous area of western Sichuan are internationally renowned protected species, while Papilio latifolia in Emei Mountain and Qingcheng Mountain is unique in the world, with two wings protruding from its tail. There is also the most representative silk butterfly in the western Sichuan Plateau, and its subspecies (taxonomic units below species) have changed greatly, which has amazed experts. This peculiar butterfly lives in the high mountains and mountains of western Sichuan at an altitude of 3,500 to 5,000 meters. Their wings are as white as silk and look like translucent thin silk. They are often decorated with vermilion or dark blue spots on a pale white background, which is elegant and sets off luxury. Their peculiar figures have also become a unique representative of butterflies in this area.
1892 to 1894, J.H.Leech, a famous American butterfly expert, led an expedition along the Yangtze River and reached Kangding area in western Sichuan. They collected a large number of butterfly species in Sichuan, and recorded nearly 600 species in China in his book Butterflies from China, Japan and Korea. The face of butterflies in China was first known to the world, starting from Sichuan. Regrettably, in the next hundred years, due to social and historical reasons, this treasure house rich in butterfly resources was almost forgotten by people except for some sporadic investigations. Related reports are only scattered in newspapers and magazines in western countries. In the eyes of the world, butterflies in the mountains of Sichuan are a mysterious and distant dream.
From 65438 to 0996, Nye, a butterfly expert in Chengdu Giant Panda Research Base, cooperated with the National Museum of Taiwan Province Province to compile a large-scale comprehensive picture book "Lepidoptera China-China Butterfly", which systematically introduced butterflies in China. This book, published in volumes by the National Taiwan Province Provincial Museum, is the most complete monograph on butterfly species in China in the world. Among them, the introduction of butterflies in Sichuan Province reached 670 pages and more than 2,600 photos, which clarified the whole picture of butterflies in Sichuan Province for the first time in China. According to the statistics of this book, there are 607 species of butterflies in Sichuan Province, which is almost equivalent to the total number of butterflies in the whole European continent, three times the number of Japanese butterflies, and more than 200 species than Taiwan Province Province, which is known as the "butterfly kingdom" in China.
The distribution of butterflies in Sichuan is mainly in the western mountainous areas. According to the investigation in Nai for more than ten years, there are 5 12 species of butterflies in the mountainous areas of western Sichuan, many of which are famous ornamental butterflies unique to western Sichuan, such as Qingcheng arrow butterfly in Qingcheng Mountain and other places, as well as nymph butterfly, the famous mimetic butterfly species-dead-leaf butterfly, and the ornamental varieties such as fish-striped butterfly and butterfly rich in western Sichuan.
Who will study, save and protect the butterfly resources in Sichuan? Who will fill the gap in the development of butterfly tourism resources in our province?
In recent years, butterfly reserves have been established all over the world, which combines the protection of butterfly habitat with the protection of human living environment. There are more than 270 species of rare butterflies in the world on the protection list. Some developed countries in Europe and America regard butterflies as "indicator animals" for environmental protection, and evaluate environmental quality through the change of butterfly species in a region. At the same time, butterfly tourist attractions, mainly butterfly pavilions and gardens, have become emerging international eco-tourism projects in recent years and have achieved remarkable benefits all over the world.
Every winter, millions of monarch butterflies gather in several valleys in Mexico. The butterflies flying all over the valleys are like orange clouds. Together with the Mexican government, the United Nations has designated these valleys as nature reserves and tourist attractions, attracting millions of tourists every year, and now they have become world-famous tourist attractions. By the end of 2000, there were more than 290 butterfly pavilions and butterfly gardens in the world, with more than 80 in Britain. There are also seats above 10 along the coast of China and in Yunnan and Guangxi provinces. The butterfly garden built in Boston, Texas, USA invested 20 million US dollars. In this huge pyramid-shaped glass building, live butterflies and various exotic butterfly specimens flown from Southeast Asia and South America are displayed at any time, which is a model of modern butterfly gardens in the world. The largest butterfly pavilion and garden in Asia is located in Japan and Taiwan Province Province of China. Most butterfly museums and gardens have considerable income and become an important part of tourism in many areas. In addition, they also play the role of environmental protection and popular science education base.
In recent years, domestic butterfly museums and gardens have sprung up like mushrooms after rain, from Dali Butterfly Museum, which displays butterfly resources in Yunnan, to Sanya "Butterfly Valley" scenic spot (composed of butterfly museums and butterfly gardens), which claims to have invested 10 million yuan. 1999 The Butterfly Pavilion of Kunming World Expo Park, which opened, receives 2.9 million visitors a year, and its profit is several times that of the investment in that year, which has become a successful new model for the commercial operation of butterfly resources in China. Stimulated by these successful examples, even Urumqi in Xinjiang, Xi 'an, Xianyang in Guangdong, Shenzhen and Guilin in Guangxi, which lack butterfly resources locally, have launched butterfly attractions in the past two years and achieved success locally.
According to the statistics of Taiwan Province Foreign Trade Development Association, there are 396 species of butterflies in Taiwan Province Province, and there are 27 butterfly museums in the province. The annual output value of butterfly tourism in Taiwan Province Province is hundreds of millions of dollars, and the annual sales of butterfly souvenirs is 44125,400 dollars. As the propaganda of butterfly resources development is deeply rooted in people's hearts, Taiwan Province Province recently launched the activity of "Rebuilding Butterfly Kingdom", with 654.38+million families signing up.
Sichuan is a veritable province with large butterfly natural resources. The species of butterflies far exceeds that of any province in China except Yunnan, and it is a well-deserved "Butterfly Kingdom of China". It's a pity that we wasted this precious tourism resource in vain. Last June, 5438+0 1 and February, 65438 held the "World Rare Insect Exhibition" in Chengdu, Mianyang and Leshan. The exhibits are mainly rare insect species such as butterflies growing in Sichuan, but the organizer is an insect museum outside the province. This is really embarrassing and shameful for Sichuanese. Due to the lack of understanding and publicity, except the butterfly science and education museum established by Nye in Chengdu Giant Panda Research Base and the butterfly museum established for Emei Mountain Museum, there is almost no research and protection of butterflies and the development of tourism resources in our province. What is even more frightening is that in some butterfly producing areas in our province, poor farmers cut down some butterfly parasitic plants with high research and economic value on a large scale in order to earn income by selling wood, or spray pesticides to kill butterflies for our province.
The protection of butterfly resources brings great losses.
Known as the "Butterfly Kingdom of China", the land of abundance has spent nearly a hundred years in loneliness, waiting and even destruction. ...
Nai's Butterfly King: Trekking in Qian Shan, Pursuing "Butterfly of Dreams"
The 30-year-old Nai, with a pair of smiling eyes behind a close-up mirror, still looks naive. This young butterfly expert, who is known as "Prince of Butterfly in China", has traveled all over China butterfly producing areas for more than ten years, collected more than 654.38+ million butterfly and insect specimens, took more than 654.38+03,000 data photos, published many personal monographs at home and abroad, and published more than 0/00 papers and popular science articles, which can be described as "a work of equal fame". At present, Xiao Zhao has been accepted as a director or member of many international and domestic societies such as the American Tropical Lepidoptera Society, and was recently invited to be the chief expert of China in a global Lepidoptera (butterfly and moth) investigation plan funded by the National Natural Science Foundation of the United States.
In Nye's study, three walls are filled with butterfly specimen display boxes and thousands of books about butterflies. The reporter saw a photo of him catching butterflies in Chengdu Wangjiang Park when he was three years old. In the photo, Xiao Xiaoli, wearing flowery clothes and trousers, is holding out her chubby little hand and catching a butterfly falling on the flower through the fence. Those focused little eyes are really cute. Nye's mother told reporters that her son was an insect fan since he was a child. He seems to have a natural affinity for insects. When he was very young, he liked to catch insects such as longicorn beetles and scarabs, and colorful butterflies especially fascinated him. His first butterfly specimen was made at the age of five or six. In his freshman year, he made 1000 kinds of animal and plant specimens and filled the attic where he lived at that time. Nai's keen interest in small insects has won great tolerance and selfless care from his parents. His parents not only squeezed money out of his meager salary to buy him extracurricular popular science books, but also arranged for him to pick them up from a distant relative's house in Ya 'an mountain area every holiday.
Insects. In the forest of Shan Ye, Nai fully felt the mystery of nature in his childhood, which aroused his strong thirst for knowledge.
Every summer, Zhao Li will visit various butterfly producing areas at his own expense. In order to collect rare butterfly species, it is often necessary to go deep into the mountains and forests. When he was a student, Mount Emei, Mount Gongga and other famous mountains were his frequent places. It is common for him to live in a farmhouse and eat dry food. In the summer of 199 1, Nai rode a bicycle to investigate the butterfly resources in several mountainous counties in Sichuan 10, with a journey of 500 kilometers. In order to photograph the world-famous rare butterfly species-the only butterfly in China that belongs to the first-class protected animal and is praised as the "dream butterfly" by experts from all over the world, he waited for five days at the top of Jianfengling, the highest peak in the south of Hainan Island, and finally photographed this butterfly species at close range for the first time in the world. On another occasion, after an eight-day trek, he changed from a car and tractor to a herdsman's horse. He went to the grassland in northern Tibet, and on the hillside where the snow began to disappear, he investigated the new silk butterfly, known as the "plateau elf". The hardships and hardships during this period are unimaginable ... 10 years later, he traveled to China butterfly producing areas from Zhejiang in the east, northern Tibet in the west, Daxinganling in the north and Hainan Island in the south.
Nye said that he has 96% known butterfly species in China and a large number of insect specimens in western China. And collected a large number of rare ornamental butterfly specimens from abroad. These specimens include the rarest, strangest and most ornamental butterfly species in the world.
Nai devoted herself to the wonderful world of butterflies and has never married. He has a dream in his heart: to build a high-tech "World Butterfly Art Museum" in Chengdu, so that "China Butterfly Kingdom" in Sichuan can quickly go to the world.
Sichuan Online February 28, 2003