The Sikkim butterfly survey: a tiny state’s enormous biodiversity census

Sikkim, the second-smallest state in India, has logged 700 butterfly species — more than any state of comparable size, a density that puts it among the richest butterfly habitats on earth.

The census is powered by citizen scientists: schoolchildren, teachers and forest staff with phone cameras and field guides.

Conservationists hope the butterflies become the state’s newest emblem — a flashier argument for keeping the hills green.