The Queen Alexandra’s Birdwing is spreading its wings in the Indianapolis Zoo Uproar Conservation Challenge – and you can help!
Butterflies have long captured the imagination of people around the world, and maybe none more than the flamboyant rockstars of the butterfly world – the swallowtails! Amongst them, the Queen Alexandra Birdwing (Ornithoptera alexandrae) is the largest butterfly in the world!
With this impressive accolade, there really is no better butterfly species to send into a public voting competition in which 64 species of animals, plants and fungi battle it out to be crowned the champion. Over the course of three weeks, the Indianapolis Zoo Uproar Conservation Challenge highlights species in need of conservation in a tournament-style bracket where pairs of species vie for the public vote to advance into the next round.
The species were nominated by IUCN Species Survival Commission (SSC) Specialist Groups and Red List Authorities, and selected by the relevant IUCN Conservation Committees. The IUCN SSC Butterfly & Moth Specialist Group nominated the Queen Alexandra Birdwing. The species is currently listed on the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species as Endangered, due to a restricted range in a small area of Papua New Guinea where the conversion of habitat to agriculture has led to a decline in available larval food plant vines.
While the IUCN SSC Butterfly & Moth Specialist Group spearheaded the Red List reassessments for all birdwing butterflies in 2018, our friends at the Swallowtail and Birdwing Butterfly Trust are working on the ground to ensure that future generations can be as inspired by the Queen Alexandra’s Birdwing’s beauty and size as past generations have. This involves working with the agricultural sector, especially sustainable palm oil, to ensure that remaining habitat can provide a home for these magnificent creatures, while rearing butterflies for release into areas it once inhabited.
Passions have always run high when birdwings are involved. While the Queen Alexandra’s Birdwing finds itself on the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) Appendix I, meaning that its international trade is prohibited, the species is highly prized – and has been since its discovery! In the Natural History Museum in London, you can find a specimen that English naturalist and explorer Albert Stewart Meek literally shot out of the sky – albeit with special ammunition to limit damage to the specimen!
Alfred Russel Wallace described his feelings on capturing his first birdwing butterfly – another species of Ornithoptera, O. croesus, from northern Maluku in Indonesia – in his book “The Malay Archipelago” (1869):
“The beauty and brilliancy of this insect are indescribable, and none but a naturalist can understand the intense excitement I experienced when I at length captured it. On taking it out of my net and opening the glorious wings, my heart began to beat violently, the blood rushed to my head, and I felt much more like fainting than I have done when in apprehension of immediate death. I had a headache the rest of the day, so great was the excitement produced by what will appear to most people a very inadequate cause.”
We’ve all been there, Alfred! And we hope many people will find themselves there again, as we take on the Uproar Conservation Challenge from March 16th! Maybe skip the excitement headache, and instead cast your vote for the phenomenal Queen Alexandra’s Birdwing! With a choice of 64 amazing species from across the animal, plant and fungi, the competition will be stiff, and that’s why we need you!
The Uproar Conservation Challenge is modeled after the popular NCAA basketball tournament in the United States, which also runs in March and early April. Pairs of species compete against each other for the public vote. Participants are invited to visit uproarchallenge.com to learn more about each species and then select one to advance to the next round of voting. Only one species from each matchup will move to the next round. Then in Round 2, the remaining species are paired up again, this time against a new rival. Voting begins again and winners advance to the next round, and so on. Only one vote per device/per round is allowed, and it is important to vote in each round to keep your favorite species in the competition! In another final twist to the story, the longer a species remains in the competition, the more funding it can receive for its conservation and its Specialist Group, with a grand prize of $10,000 at stake.
Check out uproarchallenge.com for more info and if you feel inspired just like Alfred Russel Wallace was, vote for your favorite species and help it become Uproar Conservation Challenge champion. Make sure you share about this with friends, family, colleagues and networks – the more, the merrier! Word of mouth, newsletters, emails, social media – all avenues are welcome. Above all, learn, have fun, be inspired, and support conservation!