♦ Kerala has become home to India’s first butterfly sanctuary.

♦ The Kerala State Wildlife Board renamed the Aralam Wildlife Sanctuary in Kannur as the Aralam Butterfly Sanctuary.

♦ With this, it became India's first protected forest dedicated entirely to butterflies.

♦ The renamed sanctuary, which covers 55 square kilometers amid the verdant folds of tropical and semi-evergreen forests, is home to over 266 species of butterflies, accounting for more than 80 percent of all butterflies in Kerala. 

♦ Aralam has been popular among researchers and environmentalists since it was founded in 1984. The State Forest Department has been conducting yearly butterfly surveys in collaboration with the Malabar Natural History Society for over two decades.