Admire billions of fireflies that light up an entire forest

A photographer has captured dazzling photos and videos, showing billions of fireflies flashing in synchrony lighting up a wildlife sanctuary in India.

Sriram Murali, a photographer and software engineer, an expert in light pollution and fireflies visited the Anamalai Tiger Reserve (ATR) in Tiruppur district, Tamil Nadu, India with a security guard. forest in April 2022 to observe the synchronized flashing of thousands of fireflies.

The moment billions of fireflies coordinated with each other flashed across the vast forest.

'The plant world of Pandora in Avatar may be fictional but the phenomenon is real in the Anamalai Tiger Reserve (ATR. Every summer, thousands of fireflies simultaneously blink at night turning the sanctuary into a sanctuary. preserve this primeval forest into a green carpet'.

Murali captured the moment billions of fireflies flash together across the vast forest. He used the technique of long exposure photography to somewhat simulate the large number of fireflies.

There are more than 2,000 species of fireflies around the world, but only a small number of them can synchronize the flashing process.

Fireflies have glowing organs underneath their bodies that take in oxygen and then use special cells to combine the element with a luminous compound called luciferin, to produce its characteristic glow. This way of creating light is said to be 100% efficient without creating waste.

Flashes are lights used by male fireflies as a mating signal to attract females.

The adults live only a few weeks and feed on nectar and pollen. Lack of light, night travel, construction sites, habitats, and vehicle movement are the bases for sustaining large swarms of fireflies.

Light-synchronizing behavior was first noticed by scientists at ATR in 1999 and 2012. Scientists determined that fireflies belong to the genus Abscondita but may be a new species. Detailed study and DNA sequencing are needed to identify the right species, the team says.