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Purple Emperor Apatura iris |
Brimstone Gonepteryx rhamni |
Peacock Inachis io |
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Welcome to
learnaboutbutterflies.com ! |
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"promoting the
conservation of butterflies and their habitats throughout the world" |
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"entertaining and educating butterfly enthusiasts at every level" |
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website
updated Friday 9th May 2008 |
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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.
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Worldwide, 50,000 square miles of rainforest (
roughly the same area as Greece ) is deforested
every year.
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Tropical deforestation accounts for 20 percent of
global carbon emissions.
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Every second a slice of rainforest the size of a
football field is destroyed.
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Every day 86,400 football fields of rainforest are
destroyed.
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Every year 31 million football fields of
rainforest are destroyed.
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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.
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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.
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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. |
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Say
NO to bio-fuel ! |
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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. |
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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. |
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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. |
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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 ! |
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How can YOU help to protect
rainforests ?
click
here
for further information on the topics below
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drastically reduce consumerism
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reduce your mileage - bio-fuel
in your petrol and diesel destroys rainforests
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boycott tropical hardwoods
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boycott South American beef - the
main cause of Amazonian deforestation
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boycott oil palm products
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the main cause of Asian rainforest deforestation
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support initiatives to create
eco-friendly employment for indigenous peoples
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support eco-tourism - creating
demand for protected nature reserves
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reduce carbon emissions - slow
down the rate of climate change
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visit
rainforest
conservation websites - find out how YOU can help !
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lobby politicians and sign
on-line petitions
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PRESS RELEASE VICTORY !
Brazil's Cristalino State Park's Rainforests Saved
by Internet |
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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. |
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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.
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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.
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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. |
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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. |
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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 !
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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. |
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Feedback !
Feedback !
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 ! |
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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.
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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.
Website designed, produced and owned by
Adrian Hoskins
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