ENDANGERED SPECIES
Why butterfly sighting sent hands to fluttering hearts
The Waterberg Copper butterfly sighting caused quite a stir. Shaun Smillie explains why
One of SA’s rarest creatures lives in the Waterberg, in an area the size of a smallholding. The Waterberg Copper butterfly is so rare that for 20 years it was considered extinct — until it was rediscovered near Bela Bela in Limpopo. But it has not made much of an appearance in 2017. Last year, entomologist Reinier Terblanche went looking for the flutter of orange wings that usually signals its presence. On his first visit in September, he didn’t spot a single Copper. Two months ago, one was finally spotted — but only one. Terblanche blames the drought and the Waterberg Copper is not the only rare butterfly that has been affected. "This has been a particularly bad season and one of the worst affected provinces is the Cape," says Graeme Henning, butterfly fundi and author. "Most of the rare stuff flies early in the season and some fly for just a week. If they miss this early season then they don’t fly." But it is too early to be worried, says Henning: "If we had to go back two or thre...
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