Billions of fireflies light up the Indian reserve at night
Sriram Murali, a photographer and software engineer, expert on light pollution and fireflies, had a trip to Anamalai Tiger Reserve in Tamil Nadu (India) to observe and record impressive images. about this insect.
“The bioluminescent world of Pandora in the movie Avatar may be fantasy, but this phenomenon actually takes place in the Anamalai Tiger Reserve” – quote from the observation group.”Every summer, billions of fireflies simultaneously light up the night, turning the primeval forest into a green carpet. They almost compete with the tigers and elephants here“.
Murali recorded the image of “rain” of fireflies lighting up conservation area wide. He used a long exposure technique to recreate the image of giant fireflies in each frame.
“Spots of light started from a tree trunk and this relay of light began to spread throughout the forest all night long. The light makes the trees flutter to the beat, hidden in the twilight. Each tree seems to have its own glowing pattern. The whole forest glowed in blue and yellow light“, the note describes.
There are about 2000 species of fireflies around the world, but only a few of them have a uniform glow pattern.
This insect has its own luminous organs located just below the abdomen. They absorb oxygen and use special cells to combine the element with a luminescent compound called luciferin to produce their characteristic light. This means that the light generation process is 100% efficient and produces no by-products.
Fireflies in the Indian Tiger Reserve.
This bioluminescence is a mate attraction mechanism of male fireflies to attract female fireflies. It is likely that the forest also has an equal number of female fireflies, although they are not luminous, have no wings and spend most of their lives as larvae, feeding on other molluscs, the team said.
Adult fireflies have a lifespan of only a few weeks and feed on nectar and pollen. This high concentration indicates a healthy ecosystem. The absence of artificial light, night travel and a number of other human factors have promoted the proliferation of fireflies here.
Synchronized luminous behavior was observed by scientists at the Reserve between 1999 and 2012. Scientists think the firefly belongs to the genus Abscondita but may be a new species.
According to the team, the number of fireflies around the globe is in decline and these rare miraculous sightings need to be preserved for future generations.
Source: Petapixel
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