1
The Nature and Butterfly Society (TNBS)
Naturalists come in different forms, and each one of them is passionate about something that is unique and need not match
with another interest; however, they are all united and overwhelmed by the surprises that the Mother Nature gives them eve-
ry day whenever they step on to the field. Some of the naturalists are after smaller subjects while clear majority is after mam-
mals and birds. A small group of people from the Western parts of Tamil Nadu, were no different years ago, when they were
after birds primarily, when they were accidently united while looking for identification of butterflies that they saw in the field
and were frantically seeking for help in the national on line mediums; some of these queries were answered and most of these
were either delayed or not answered. And that fuelled the group to come together and they soon started exchanging notes on
what they saw and what it could be!
The important thing is not to stop questioning. Curiosity has its own reason for existing- Albert Einstein. I can just let my curiosi-
ty wander unleashed- James C Collins
Curiosity is one word that pushed us forward and opened many doors before us and we kept on moving from one door to an-
other and learned many new things.
In vain have you acquired knowledge if you have not imparted it to others- Deuteronomy Rabbah. Share your knowledge. It is a
way to achieve immortality- Dalai Lama (1357-1419)
This is the basis on which the group, Tamil Nadu Butterfly Society came into the reckoning.
The like minded team set to explore many areas of Tamil Nadu in search of butterflies. When the exploration started in 2014
(although individual interests were pursued much earlier, say from 2012), much of the early explorations were in and around
the Coimbatore and The Nilgiris. And slowly other area too were covered which included ATR, KMTR, Megamalai, Palni Hills,
Eastern Ghats, Courtallam and many other places.
Such an exploration brought many species to the common knowledge for the first time in recent times and that prompted one
of the first purpose of the Society, bringing out a properly validated Checklist for the state of Tamil Nadu. Checklists of Western
Ghats, Peninsular India, data available on hand, species validation so far, etc, were taken as a basis of arriving at a target check-
list of 323 species (this was later revised to 324). Soon, may of these in the targets were ticked off and in October 2015, a press
release was done (which is published in leading news papers) announcing a validation of 271 species. The validated numbers
today stand at 311 with just 13 of the species eluding our effort to identify.
Another significant outreach activity that we have undertaken is opening a Facebook page to unite butterfly enthusiasts from
Tamil Nadu and other places of India. We started this in October 2014 and today it has a membership of 1800 with many active
participants. For example, in 2016, we had 3580 posts from 29 districts out of 32 districts of Tamil Nadu. No of species posted
for the year stood at 277 species. These data were not only valuable in knowing the distribution of species and months of oc-
currence, it also helped new people to learn about these wonderful creatures in double quick time.
Like it happens with many groups and organisations, a few of the members bid adieu from us to pursue their own successful
path and rest of us continued the activities of TNBS here.
From 2017, we have been regularly bringing out a Quarterly magazine called, Pattampoochi (in English) with articles covering
from Field Trips, Surveys, new finds, Life cycle studies, etc. So far, 8 issues have come out and the current one is 9th in the se-
ries, stepping into the 3rd Year.
There were regular outreach programs such as presentation to school and college children, public associations, and many
walks were held or like minded enthusiasts. Members participated in various surveys and meet held outside of the state too, to
expand the knowledge base. TNBS was fortunate too in organising a few surveys with Tamil Nadu Forest Department and chief
among them was the one held in Kodaikanal Wildlife Sanctuary, a first such exercise for the WLS, which yielded good results
and many hidden hotspots. A repeat survey too was conducted for them.
On 25th July, 2018, TNBS was formally registered under Section 10 of Tamil Nadu Act 1975 for Societies. We have assumed a
new and more meaningful name to the society, The Nature and Butterfly Society, retaining the old charm on the abbreviation,
TNBS. This society registration will give us enough ammunition to protect our works and data and will enable us to move with
Government organisation for the butterfly related activities such as surveys, exploration, dissemination of information, etc. The
new logo is presented on the opposite page.
We take this opportunity to thank all our well wishers, officials of government organisation, other NGOs, naturalists and loving
members of TNBS and other naturalists and friends from all over India and request you to wish us well in our continued jour-
ney– Balakrishnan R, Gopalakrishnan S, Nishanth CV, Pavendhan A, Ramanasaran H, Theivaprakasham H and Viswa Nathan S.
PATTAMPOOCHI
A TNBS MAGAZINE
WINGS 3 VEINS 1
5