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Text and photographs protected by Copyright © Adrian Hoskins 2008, unless otherwise stated, and must not be reproduced or published in part or in whole elsewhere without prior written permission from the author.
 
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Fascinating new book by
 Andrew Neild - click here
 
 

TEST PAGE

 
 
 
 
learnaboutbutterflies strives to maintain high levels of accuracy but the webmaster cannot be held responsible for the content and information contained in it, nor for any consequences of their use. No legal claims can be made based on the use of any information on this website.
 
 

Purple Emperor Apatura iris

Brimstone Gonepteryx rhamni

Peacock Inachis io

 

Welcome to learnaboutbutterflies.com !

"promoting the conservation of butterflies and their habitats throughout the world"

"entertaining and educating butterfly enthusiasts at every level"

website updated Friday 9th May 2008

The 10 most beautiful butterflies on Earth ? - click here !

 

Help us save the rainforests !

Ecological Internet on-line petitions

The effects of Climate Change

Latest news on rainforest deforestation

Our protest to the President of Brazil

 

In excess of 10,000 square miles ( 2.6 million hectares ) of the Amazon rainforest is deliberately burnt down every year, primarily to make way for cattle pastures. These pastures are very poor in nutrients, so support only very low densities of cattle. The pastures are burned annually to promote new grass growth and to destroy cattle parasites. These fires rage uncontrolled, setting fire to further areas of forest. Deforested areas are much hotter and drier than the rainforests - consequently the average temperature of the entire Amazonian region rises and the humidity falls even more dramatically. This causes major changes in the vegetation structure of the remaining areas of rainforest, leading to reduced biodiversity even in protected areas.

Worldwide, 50,000 square miles of rainforest ( roughly the same area as Greece ) is deforested every year.
Tropical deforestation accounts for 20 percent of global carbon emissions.
Every second a slice of rainforest the size of a football field is destroyed.
Every day 86,400 football fields of rainforest are destroyed.
Every year 31 million football fields of rainforest are destroyed.
Although they cover less than 2 percent of the Earth's surface area, rainforests are home to over 50 percent of the world's plant and animal life.
A typical 5 square mile area of Amazon rainforest supports 1,500 flowering plants, 750 species of tree, 450 species of bird, and over 500 species of butterfly. But soon it will all be gone.
 

Every time you put fuel in your car you are contributing to rainforest destruction, because thanks to the utter ineptitude of Gordon Brown and his government, all petrol and diesel now contains 2.5 percent bio-fuel, rising to 5 percent by 2010. Bio-fuels are grown primarily on former rainforest that has been deliberately burned down to make way for soybean and oil palm plantations.

It is therefore safe to say that the government of Gordon Brown and the Labour Party are guilty of being a major cause of rainforest devastation, and major contributors towards the extinction of the thousands of butterflies, birds, and other animals and plants which live within them.

 
 

Say NO to bio-fuel !

 
 

Vast swathes of Brazilian rainforest, as much as 53 percent in some states,  have been deliberately set on fire by US-based companies to make way for soybean plantations used for the production of bio-fuel. In Borneo and Sumatra the rainforests which are home to one of the world's most loved species, the orang-utan, are being destroyed at a catastrophic rate and are predicted to disappear entirely by 2020. The cause of the devastation - massive expansion of oil palm plantations for production of bio-fuel.

 
 

A study by the University of Minnesota, published in February, found that growing bio-fuel on converted rainforests, peat lands, savannas or grasslands created up to 420 times ( yes, four hundred and twenty ! ) more carbon dioxide than it saved.

 
 

Several other reports have predicted that if bio-fuel development continues at it's present rate, it will cause in the destruction of virtually all of the world's rainforests within twenty years, yet governments, prompted by commercial interests, insist on continuing with this utter insanity.

 
 

This madness must stop ! Please visit the rainforestportal website where you can find more detailed information, and take part in on-line petitions to save the Amazon and the rainforests of Africa and Asia. Don't leave it to someone else !

 
 

 
 

 
     
 
How can YOU help to protect rainforests ?
click here for further information on the topics below
  • drastically reduce consumerism
  • reduce your mileage - bio-fuel in your petrol and diesel destroys rainforests
  • boycott tropical hardwoods
  • boycott South American beef - the main cause of Amazonian deforestation
  • boycott oil palm products - the main cause of Asian rainforest deforestation
  • support initiatives to create eco-friendly employment for indigenous peoples
  • support eco-tourism - creating demand for protected nature reserves
  • reduce carbon emissions - slow down the rate of climate change
  • visit rainforest conservation websites - find out how YOU can help !
  • lobby politicians and sign on-line petitions
 
 

PRESS RELEASE VICTORY !

Brazil's Cristalino State Park's Rainforests Saved by Internet

 
 

Efforts by the State Government of Mato Grosso, Brazil, to drastically reduce the size of Cristalino State Park, one of the Amazon's most biodiverse reserves, have been stymied by Fauna and Flora International, who organised local and international protests via Ecological Internet's (EI) Earth Action network.  An important precedent has been set regarding the strength and permanence of protected status for ancient rainforests under Brazilian law. Cristalino State Park is a world-renowned ecotourism destination, whose 184,000 hectares are home to over 550 birds, 1200 butterflies, and endangered species like the Brazilian tapir, white-whiskered spider monkey and giant river otter. 27,000 hectares of forest were to lose protection; becoming vulnerable to logging, cattle ranching and agribusiness. In total EI's network sent 137,800 protest emails to Brazilian officials, including Brazil's Ministerio Publico. As a result of this action the Brazilian Government has now ruled that the proposed reduction of the park by the Mato Grosso State Government is illegal.

 
 
 
The above press release is proof that YOU can make a huge difference, helping to save the rainforests and their wonderful butterfly fauna !
Wherever in the world you live, please join the conservation organisations who are fighting desperately to protect the Amazon, the Andean cloud-forests, and the rainforests of Africa, south-east Asia, and eastern Australia.
Simply by adding your name to their membership lists you increase their political profile, proving that they have mass public support, and giving them much greater "clout" when tackling governments and commercial interests.
Please visit the Rainforests page for more information.
Please visit the Links page to contact rainforest conservation organisations which organise on-line petitions, and use scientific evidence to apply pressure to governments to halt the destruction of rainforests.
 
   
 
 
At learnaboutbutterflies.com you'll find hundreds of stunning photos depicting many of the world's most beautiful butterflies, all taken in their natural habitats. You'll also find 393 pages of highly readable articles covering every aspect of their lives, including anatomy, taxonomy, ecology, conservation, and detailed species accounts covering distribution, habitats and behavioural observations.
 
 

Everything you read on this website is based on extensive personal observation of butterflies in their habitats, supplemented by data collated from reference books, and from professional entomologists and ecologists. In order to make the articles more readable I have dispensed with source references on the individual pages, but these include such eminent international authorities as Bernard d'Abrera, Andrew Neild, Robert Robbins, Jorge Bizzaro, Curtis Callaghan, Gerardo Lamas, Jason Hall, Keith Willmott, Pat Haynes and Vitor Becker, to whom I express my sincere gratitude. I'd also like to pay tribute to the British entomologists, Matthew Oates and Jeremy Thomas whose knowledge of the ecology of British butterflies first inspired me to take a deeper interest in the subject. Last but by know means least, I would like to thank my lepidopterist friends, particularly Steve Meredith, Andrew Neild, Tony Hoare, Peter Bruce-Jones and the late Doris Ashby for the many shared pleasures on our various butterfly outings.

 

All articles are continually revised. More articles and photographs are added every week, guaranteeing a mass of new material every time you visit these pages.

 
About this website
 
learnaboutbutterflies.com was launched in late December 2006. It has grown rapidly to become one of the most popular natural history websites in Britain, has a large following in Europe and the USA, and attracts regular visitors from as far away as Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, Colombia, Costa Rica, Ecuador, Ghana, Japan, Kenya, Malawi, Malaysia, Mexico, Panama, Papua New Guinea, Peru, Sumatra, Taiwan, Tanzania and Thailand.
 
learnaboutbutterflies.com is a comprehensive website with a well founded reputation for accuracy. It is widely recognised as an important information resource for universities, colleges, and schools; and has a substantial following amongst amateur and professional entomologists, ecology students, nature reserve managers, wildlife writers, eco-tourism researchers, and natural history photographers. It also acts as a portal to wildlife and conservation organisations worldwide, via the Links page.
 
Recent updates
 
The illustrated species reports for all the British butterflies are now all published, as are those for all of the species currently illustrated in the West Africa, Amazon, Andes and Malaysia / Borneo galleries. Each report includes comprehensive sections covering the distribution, taxonomy, lifecycle and ecology. All reports are regularly revised to include new observations and more photographs. The Lifecycle, Anatomy, Survival Strategies and Taxonomy & Evolution sections have all now been considerably expanded and illustrated. There is also a completely new section about The Enemies of Butterflies.
 
Following a very successful trip to Peru in August 2007, several dozen new photographs and species reports have been added to the Amazon, Andes and Neotropical Moths galleries. As with the other galleries, click on the images to access a selection of full size photographs, and detailed information about the relevant species. A full Trip Report and butterfly Species List has also now been published.
 
Click here for a more detailed guide to the current status of the website, and news about plans for 2008 and beyond. learnaboutbutterflies just grows and grows....
 
Be interactive !
 
Please don't forget this is YOUR website - I'm always glad to receive your Trip Reports for publication, and to receive Feedback that will help improve the quality, diversity and accuracy of the content. You can also have a bit of fun on the Test Your Knowledge page, have your questions answered via the F.A.Q. page, and read about the latest UK butterfly sightings on the Butterfly Diary page.
 
Finally, please don't forget that every page is updated on a continual basis, so you'll find new photos and additional information every time you visit !
 
 
     
 

learnaboutbutterflies does NOT publish lists of nature reserves or butterfly sites. We believe that the instant availability of such information on the internet encourages fragile sites to receive sudden influxes of visitors during peak flight periods, and that this can result in degradation of habitats and have dire consequences for the populations of rare butterflies.  We encourage people to avoid over-using the more popular butterfly sites, and to explore the lesser known sites, particularly in their local area. About 90 percent of the photographs of British butterflies on this website were taken within a 20 mile radius of my own home, at relatively unknown woodland, grassland and heathland sites.

 
     
 
Feedback !
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learnaboutbutterflies very much welcomes your feedback.

If you experience any technical problems with the website, or discover any inaccuracies that need addressing, or would like to offer any comments or suggestions, please click here. All messages will receive a reply !

 

learnaboutbutterflies would like to express our sincere thanks to Bernard and Lucilla d'Abrera for their very generous donation of 11 volumes of "Butterflies of the World". This indispensable series is of immense value as a tool for the identification of species photographed for this website, and helps to ensure that species surveys supplied to reserve managers are as accurate as possible.

I'm pleased to include a brief autobiography of Bernard d'Abrera - probably the most well known and respected entomologist in the world, author not only of the "Butterflies of the World" series, but also of "Birdwing Butterflies of the World", "Hawkmoths of the World", "Saturniidae Mundi", and the scholarly and controversial "Concise Atlas of Butterflies of the World", which includes many stunning photographs of butterflies in their natural habitat, as well as a huge selection of set specimens.

 
 
With the exception of the Amazon rainforest images on this page, all text and photographs on this website
are the property of Adrian Hoskins and protected by Copyright. Images or text on this website must not be reproduced or published in part or in whole elsewhere in any form without prior written permission from Adrian Hoskins.
 
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