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| Common Crow |
Every bit of greenery which we see by the roadside is a treasure trove of the most wondrous living creatures, the tiniest of the city dwellers who, not unlike many of us, have painstakingly adapted themselves to the ordeals of city life. You may suddenly come across one of them in the middle of the concrete jungle perhaps during its foray for food or search for a prospective mate. The other day I had gone to One Indiabulls Center, an office complex in South Mumbai, housing the offices of some of the biggest
corporations and law firms in India. I was standing on the pavement waiting for
the real estate broker to show us flats and getting thoroughly bored, when I
saw a Common Crow butterfly fluttering across the treeless road under the Lower
Parel flyover, trying to find the tiniest bit of leafy surface to perch upon.
It flew high and low and over moving cars looking completely out of place. The
last time I had seen a Crow was through the train window, flying jauntily
amongst profuse greenery. I followed the flight of the butterfly as it wove its
way though the bustling street, sat briefly on a parked vehicle and finally
flew into the sparsely spaced hedges bordering the courtyard of Indiabulls
Center. I was left wondering how such a tiny creature could survive in this
hostile environment, fighting against all odds. The haunting image of a lone
butterfly fluttering across the dusty road in search of a little patch of
green, would always remain to me a
reminder of the cruel apathy of the human race who have greedily usurped the
natural habitats of their fellow species.
The Common Crow (Euploea core) belonging to the family of Nymphalids, is found
in South Asian countries and is perhaps one of the few species of butterfly
which are commonly seen in and around cities. The upper side of the butterfly
is glossy brown with marginal and terminal white spots either of equal or
decreasing size. The forewing is darker than the hind wing but the marginal
spots are more prominent on the hind wing. The underside is light brown with
similar markings as on the upper side. Towards the middle of the hind wing on
the underside, there is a cluster 7-8 of irregularly sized white spots which
distinguishes this species from the Brown King Crow butterfly ( Eupleoa Klugii) (As pointed by a butterfly enthusiast and
founding member of Nature Mates, Mr Arjan Basu Roy).
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| Brown King Crow |
The
butterfly has a very leisurely flight, because it does not have to fear
predators. It is inedible on account of the alkaloids in its body, extracted
from the latex of the host plants, which they consume as caterpillars. Even if
an inexperienced predator attacks it, it soon learns its lesson when the Common Crow oozes out the distasteful liquid, forcing the predator to release it. Once
they encounter a Common Crow, the predators learn to associate the patterns and
habits of this unpalatable species and avoid ingesting them in future. On
account of this protective mechanism, it is often mimicked by other edible
Indian butterflies like the Great Eggfly ((Hypolimnas bolina).The
resemblance is clearly discernible not only in the body markings but also in
the flight pattern and sometimes in behavioral aspects as well. This form of mimicry where an edible species
mimics or closely resembles the traits of an inedible species in order to save
itself from predators is known as Batesian
Mimicry and is common in many species.
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| Great Eggfly |
The
Common Crow flies with its wings held slightly above the horizontal and perches
on leaves for minutes at a time which makes it an ideal subject of photography
for butterfly enthusiasts. This butterfly can be photographed at any of the
time day, although the ideal time is of course during the early morning hours
or late afternoon. This butterfly in found in abundance wherever there is
little of patch of green with its host plants which include oleander and milkweeds.
Constructing
one’s own miniature butterfly garden is pretty simple as it only requires the
assemblage of some of the particular butterfly’s hostplants (this can be even in the form
of potted plants). So next time you find a butterfly pretty or interesting, try
to attract it to your garden so that not only can you admire it, but also do
your part in its conservation.
good one
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