Japanese butterfly’s long journey

This video is about butterflies in Japan.

From NHK World in Japan:

Butterfly migrates over 1500 kilometers

A butterfly captured in Tokyo had flown over 1,500 kilometers from Okinawa.

Between spring and early summer, the Asagimadara chestnut tiger butterfly migrates from south to north to breed. They migrate back south in autumn to spend the winter in a warmer climate.

To learn about their flight routes, many people are taking part in a field study to capture, mark, and release them.

On June 9th, graduate school student Katsuhiro Awano found a marked Asagimadara at Mount Takao in Tokyo. He captured it and took a picture.

The marker shows the butterfly was released at Nakagusuku-son in Okinawa Island on April 29th of this year.

It flew the 1,500 kilometers in about 40 days. It is the second longest distance ever recorded for a northbound journey of Asagimadara.

Awano said he is happy to learn the butterfly flew that distance. He said he hopes it can fly even further north.

Hisashi Fujii, lecturer at Kyoto Gakuen University, said the record distance for an Asagimadara is over 2,000 kilometers during the southbound migration in summer and autumn.

The butterflies tend to breed during their northbound migration and not travel too far. The only longer migration recorded so far is about 1,800 kilometers from Taiwan to Shiga Prefecture in central Japan in 2000.

Jun. 30, 2013 – Updated 03:48 UTC

Related articles

• Spending the day in a butterfly’s realm (mylittlelifeandme.wordpress.com)
• Becoming a Cute Butterfly (rfspopularmusicandoralhistory2013.wordpress.com)
• Butterfly Photo Shoot (womenwhothinktoomuch.wordpress.com)
• diy flying butterflies (rorodiy8989.wordpress.com)
• Photographing Butterflies and BEES?? (scribblinglips.wordpress.com)
• Gulf Fritillary Butterfly Egg (priyaghosephotography.wordpress.com)
• Butterfly season in kilome (kilome.wordpress.com)
• Underwater Butterflies (ambperspectivesblog.wordpress.com)
• Feeding The Butterflies (sirwilliampesteliminator.com)