Authorities are to temporarily shut one lane of a busy road to protect millions of butterflies on their seasonal migration, officials said yesterday.
Under the measure, one lane of the freeway near Linnei Township (林內鄉) will be closed on the mornings of April 3 to April 5 during the "peak hours" of the yearly migration by purple-spotted butterflies.
coexistence
PHOTO: AP
The measure could lead to traffic jams but it is worth doing, said Lee Thay-ming (
"Human beings need to coexist with the other species even if they are tiny butterflies," Lee said.
About one third of the country's purple-spotted butterflies risk their lives at the end of winter by flying north along the 300km route, which cuts across the elevated road, said Jhan Jia-long (
A study of Jhan's group showed that an estimated 11,500 butterflies per minute flew over the freeway in the three hours to noon on April 3, 2005 and that at least one million butterflies flew past the area on that day.
"A number of butterflies perished when they were dragged into strong turbulence caused by cars racing along the freeway," Jhan said.
Professor Sweehu Cheng (
Authorities also erected a protective net along the freeway, hoping that butterflies would be forced to fly at an higher altitude and avoid crashing into cars.
Ultraviolet light
The third measure being taken is to install ultraviolet lights under the elevated road, which experts said could lure the light-sensitive insects to fly safely underneath.
The measures were aimed to reduce the ecological impact from the construction of the freeway, Cheng said, adding that butterflies are also a key link in the country's food chain.
"The factor [protection of butterflies[ was not taken into consideration when the freeway was built," he said. The freeway was inaugurated more than four years ago.
The proposed measures were presented by Cheng and Lin Tieh-hsung (
Cheng said he had not expected the measures, which would cost approximately NT$1 million (US$30,000) to implement, would be approved.
Each winter, millions of purple-spotted butterflies move south beginning in November, with approximately 600,000 wintering in "Purple Butterfly Valley" of Maolin, which along with the Monarch butterfly's winter home in Mexico is one of only two mass wintering sites known in the world, Jhan said.
ANOTHER EMERGES: The CWA yesterday said this year’s fourth storm of the typhoon season had formed in the South China Sea, but was not expected to affect Taiwan Tropical Storm Gaemi has intensified slightly as it heads toward Taiwan, where it is expected to affect the country in the coming days, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. As of 8am yesterday, the 120km-radius storm was 800km southeast of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan’s southernmost tip, moving at 9kph northwest, the agency said. A sea warning for Gaemi could be issued tonight at the earliest, it said, adding that the storm is projected to be closest to Taiwan on Wednesday or Thursday. Gaemi’s potential effect on Taiwan remains unclear, as that would depend on its direction, radius and intensity, forecasters said. Former Weather Forecast
As COVID-19 cases in Japan have been increasing for 10 consecutive weeks, people should get vaccinated before visiting the nation, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) said. The centers reported 773 hospitalizations and 124 deaths related to COVID-19 in Taiwan last week. CDC Epidemic Intelligence Center Director Guo Hung-wei (郭宏偉) on Tuesday said the number of weekly COVID-19 cases reported in Japan has been increasing since mid-May and surpassed 55,000 cases from July 8 to July 14. The average number of COVID-19 patients at Japan’s healthcare facilities that week was also 1.39 times that of the week before and KP.3 is the dominant
The Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) working group for Taiwan-related policies is likely to be upgraded to a committee-level body, a report commissioned by the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) said. As Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) is increasingly likely to upgrade the CCP’s Central Leading Group for Taiwan Affairs, Taiwanese authorities should prepare by researching Xi and the CCP, the report said. At the third plenary session of the 20th Central Committee of the CCP, which ended on Thursday last week, the party set a target of 2029 for the completion of some tasks, meaning that Xi is likely preparing to
US-CHINA TRADE DISPUTE: Despite Beijing’s offer of preferential treatment, the lure of China has dimmed as Taiwanese and international investors move out Japan and the US have become the favored destinations for Taiwanese graduates as China’s attraction has waned over the years, the Ministry of Labor said. According to the ministry’s latest income and employment advisory published this month, 3,215 Taiwanese university graduates from the class of 2020 went to Japan, surpassing for the first time the 2,881 graduates who went to China. A total of 2,300 graduates from the class of 2021 went to the US, compared with the 2,262 who went to China, the document showed. The trend continued for the class of 2023, of whom 1,460 went to Japan, 1,334 went to