Wonder of the 2,500-km Migration of Chestnut Tiger Butterflies (Parantica sita niphonica)

The ability development method SRS (Super-Reading System) is a system of mental and physical ability development that the author proposed in 1987. It consists of three levels having 180 steps. The first level consists of "super-reading" and users follow 30 steps in training themselves to do speed-reading. The second level consists of "subconsciousness reconstruction" and users follow 50 steps to rebuild their subconsciousness domain. The third level consists of "superconsciousness realization" and users follow 100 steps to perform practical training aimed at sending their days at a higher level of consciousness. The SRS consists of eight sub-methods called speed-reading, image, memory, meditation, speed-writing, mind and body, health, and education sub-methods. At the first level, mind and body are activated generally by training to accelerate intellectual function. The mean reading speed becomes more than 10 times the speed before the training. At the second level, the contents of a wider, deeper and higher range are learned sequentially, and special training is carried out. At the third level, the content for more than 200 domains is learned and practiced. Some results of training have been reported at 16 past ISLIS symposia. Speed-reading is the most important sub-method of the SRS and it finally aims at "reading like a butterfly flies" with three-dimensional space consciousness. The phenomenon of resonance plays an important role in reading like a butterfly flies. Therefore I have published a series of papers on intellectual resonance. The butterfly mentioned above suggests both a "mind function" and a "function of a real butterfly". I began to examine the ability of a specific butterfly, the chestnut tiger butterfly (Parantica sita niphonica), in 2003. These butterflies are known to migrate more than 2,000km. The main method for the study is the marking method, i.e., the method of a mark-release-recapture. It is usual in studies by the marking method that the recapture in the distant place is performed by others. However, I aimed at self-recapture of the butterflies with my label, which means that I reencounter them in a far-off place a few months later. For that purpose I visited nine places from Fukushima to Okinawa every year from summer to autumn. The total number of the butterflies which I have labelled by myself has reached 160,000. This is the maximum number in many records accomplished by other people in the past. More than 2,000 butterflies with my label were recaptured at far-off places. Every year I myself had successful self-recaptures in remote distant places more than 1,000km from the place where the butterflies were originally captured and labeled. A certain butterfly labelled by me migrated 2,513km from Fukushima to Taiwan, and that distance is the longest on record. Through all these experiences, the extraordinary ability of this butterfly appeared. I consider eight hypotheses to understand these butterflies. 1) They migrate while communicating with each other in an invisible group. 2) They understand mesoscale weather phenomena (20km to 1000km). 3) They have a map at the same mesoscale level. 4) They have some kind of GPS functions and know where they are. 5) They have a compass function and know directions. 6) They can foresee an event more than one day in advance, and occurring more than 100km away. 7) An interesting coincidence including synchronicity or phenomenon of resonance often happens between butterflies with a person. 8) They migrate using environmental fluctuation (i.e., weather changes, other natural changes and social changes) and survive well. I comment on these hypotheses in the lecture while showing concrete examples.