A kaleidoscope of butterflies, like cherry blossoms, have been wafting over Johannesburg this week, caused by the recent rains.
Professor Graham Alexander, a zoology lecturer from the University of the Witwatersrand, told the Mail & Guardian on Tuesday that the butterflies, commonly known as the “brown-veined white” or Belenois aurota aurota, take wing when their population level rises.
“Because of the good rains this season the population has built up. Plants have grown well and caterpillars have had better survival rates this year,” he said.
He said that the butterflies have been migrating since “time immemorial” in Johannesburg and that they fly in a north-easterly direction. Alexander said it was not known what controls the migration.
Siyabonga Thethwa, a South African Weather Service forecaster told the M&G Online that the rainfall figure for February 2006 had exceeded the average rainfall figure for the month.
“[Johannesburg is experiencing] above normal rain for this time of year. But the rain is moving away. In March [it’s] going to be a change in the wet season,” he said.