Researchers in Hong Kong have made an exciting discovery: a rare butterfly has completed a remarkable migration of 3,000 kilometers (1,864 miles) from Japan, establishing a new world record for the longest journey ever recorded for its species.
The butterfly, known as the chestnut tiger (Parantica sita), part of the danaid family, was spotted in Repulse Bay on December 21 by Ling Yuet-fung, a postdoctoral fellow at the University of Hong Kong’s School of Biological Sciences.
A tag on the butterfly's wing featured Japanese characters along with the date August 18, indicating it had been tagged and released in Fukushima four months prior, according to a university spokesperson.
Using the URL-branded stickers attached to the butterfly's wings, Ling, along with Timothy Bonebrake and Emily Jones from the Danaid Butterfly Research project, successfully reached out to Masayoshi Shimizu and Hiroki Takizawa in Japan, who were responsible for tagging and releasing the butterfly.
The adult male chestnut tiger was determined to be at least 124 days old and had traveled over 3,000 kilometers, marking a new record for the longest migration known for this species.
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