On Tuesday, Wang Shu-hua, president of the Keelung City Neiliao Community Development Association, captured a photo of a beautiful butterfly in the Neiliao Wetlands. It was the first time she had ever seen one like it. Experts recognized it as a White-edged Blue Baron. Shen Chin-feng, a council member of the Keelung Bird Society, said Thursday that this could be the first time this butterfly has ever been recorded in Taiwan, the nearest place in which it has been sighted being Xiamen, China. There is a regular shipping route between Taiwan and Xiamen, and it cannot be ruled out that the butterfly came over as a stowaway.
According to Shen, the White-edged Blue Baron can be found in India, Bangladesh, Burma, Thailand, Cambodia, Vietnam and south China, the nearest place to Taiwan that it has been recorded being Xiamen. The butterfly is known to nestle on mango trees, and it just so happens that there was a fruit bearing mango tree in the Neiliao Wetlands: when Wang spotted this male Blue Baron, it was nestling on a Yellow Water Lily, drinking water. From its appearance it seems to have only just emerged from its chrysalis. Even more intriguing, however, was the question of where exactly did it come from.
Experts believe that the Blue Baron could have entered Keelung via a shipping route. There was a passenger ship in the Port of Keelung named the Cosco Star that travels to and from Xiamen on a regular weekly basis, and it is known from a survey carried out by the Keelung Bird Society of Taiwan’s three northern outlying islands that insects carried on the monsoon winds will land on fishing boats and become “stowaways” on these vessels. Sometimes, they will arrive unannounced in Keelung in this way.
Photo courtesy of Wang Shu-hua
照片:王淑華提供
Shen gave another example, citing the case of the Large Faun butterfly first discovered at the Ershawan Battery in Keelung in 1997, and which is still seen in Keelung to this day. The area of distribution of the Blue Baron is very similar to that of the Large Faun, and the Blue Baron’s appearance could well be a repeat performance of the Large Faun’s arrival.
(Translated by Paul Cooper, Taipei Times)
基隆市內寮社區發展協會理事長王淑華,上周二在基隆內寮濕地拍攝到一隻沒見過的漂亮蝴蝶,經專家辨識確定是「尖翅翠蛺蝶」,基隆市野鳥學會常務理事沈錦豐上週四說,這可能是台灣第一筆記錄,「尖翅翠蛺蝶」離台灣最近的紀錄是在廈門,而基隆有往返廈門的固定船班,不排除牠可能是搭客輪來的。
Photo courtesy of Shen Chin-feng
照片:沈錦豐提供
沈錦豐表示,「尖翅翠蛺蝶」的分布區域在印度、孟加拉、緬甸、泰國、柬埔賽、越南及中國華南地區,離台灣最近的紀錄在廈門,以芒果樹為寄主,內寮濕地剛好有一棵會結果的芒果樹,這隻「尖翅翠蛺蝶」雄蝶被王淑華發現時,正停在濕地水面的台灣萍蓬草上吸水,從外觀研判像是剛羽化不久,但更令人好奇的是,牠到底是從哪裡來的?
專家研判「尖翅翠蛺蝶」可能是透過船舶經由海路進入基隆,因為基隆港有一艘「中遠之星」客輪,每星期會固定往返廈門及基隆,而根據基隆鳥會前往北方三島調查的經驗,一些昆蟲會隨著季風停棲在漁船上,而這些搭便船的「偷渡客」,有時候就這樣無聲無息地來到了基隆。
沈錦豐也舉例,基隆市蝶「串珠環蝶」於一九九七年在海門天險首次發現,直到今年主要活動區域仍在基隆,「尖翅翠蛺蝶」的分布區域和「串珠環蝶」很像,同樣的事件真的很有可能重演。
(自由時報)
South Korea’s famous kimchi is falling victim to climate change, with scientists, farmers and manufacturers saying the quality and quantity of the napa cabbage that is pickled to make the ubiquitous dish is suffering due to rising temperatures. Napa cabbage thrives in cooler climates, and is usually planted in mountainous regions where temperatures during the key growing summer season once rarely rose above 25 degrees Celsius. Studies show that warmer weather brought about by climate change is now threatening these crops, so much so that South Korea might not be able to grow napa cabbage one day due to the intensifying heat. “We
It’s widely recognized that there are far more right-handed people than left-handed people in the world. Being right-handed simply means preferring to use one’s right hand for tasks that involve only one hand, such as writing and eating. But have you ever wondered about the possible reasons behind the global dominance of the right hand over the left? As with many complex biological questions, multiple factors appear to be at play. First, one reason seems to be genetics. __1__ Therefore, the global dominance of right-handedness is something that has been passed down through many generations of humans. Next,
A: What’s even more horrible is that the five suspects who purposely supplied ketamine to actor Matthew Perry were all his “friends.” B: Who exactly are the five suspects? A: They include Matthew’s two doctors, a broker, a drug dealer, and even his live-in assistant. B: Those scumbags should go to jail. A: Yeah, one of the doctors may be sentenced to up to 120 years in prison. A: 更可怕的是,提供男星馬修派瑞「K他命」的5人全是他的「朋友」。 B: 嫌犯是誰啊? A: 其中包括他的2位醫生、1位仲介、1位毒販、甚至他的同居助理! B: 那些人渣真該去坐牢。 A: 對啊,其中1位醫生可能面臨120年徒刑。 (By Eddy Chang, Taipei Times/台北時報張聖恩)
On blazing hot summer days, fresh ingredients and cool refreshments straight from a refrigerator feel like nothing short of a miracle. However, chilled foods didn’t begin with modern refrigerators. In fact, the origin of refrigeration precedes the invention of this now-indispensable appliance by centuries. Initially, the quest for refrigeration was motivated more by the desire to cool beverages than to preserve food. The ancient Greeks and Romans, for instance, used snow stored in insulated pits to chill wine. Around the fourth century BC, the Persians made a significant stride in refrigeration techniques when they devised the yakhchal. Fashioned from