What to know about the state butterfly of Alabama and Georgia

Video: A look at the Rosalynn Carter Butterfly Trail in Georgia.

( WRBL ) — There’s state flags and fruits, but in some states, there’s also butterflies.

For Alabama and Georgia specifically, there’s just one butterfly — the Eastern Tiger Swallowtail. In both states, it’s deemed the official “state butterfly.”

But what made this two-winged creature the obvious choice? In Alabama, it links back to Selma.

About two hours east of Columbus lies a town of around 17,000 that’s known for its 1960s civil rights movement and marches to Montgomery.

In Selma, council members requested that the swallowtail represent their state. The other option was the Monarch Butterfly, which became Alabama’s state insect.

One woman by the name of Mallieve Breeding made a particularly convincing case for the swallowtail, saying that monarchs only traveled through Alabama, while swallowtails have made their home in the eastern U.S.

It may have been hard to deny Breeding’s wishes, considering she was known as “Madam Butterfly” around the town of Selma. Breeding even drove the decision to deem Selma the “Butterfly Capital of Alabama.”

She also won an award at our own Auburn University in 1986. The W. Moseley Kelly Environmental Award recognized Breeding’s environment-based efforts, including the establishing of junior garden clubs at elementary schools in Selma.

As for Georgia, the Eastern Tiger Swallowtail became its state butterfly the same year as Alabama — 1989.

These are the reasons cited for that decision in Senate Bill 449 :

• WHEREAS, butterflies in their resplendent beauty have fascinated children and adults for ages
• WHEREAS, the Greeks believed that the butterfly emerging from the chrysalis represented man’s metamorphosis from the mortal to the eternal
• WHEREAS, Mrs. Deen Day Smith, the current President of The Garden Club of Georgia, Inc., was inspired by that same metaphor to donate funds in memory of the late Cecil B. Day to build a butterfly center at Callaway Gardens
• WHEREAS, the Day Butterfly Center which is scheduled to open the latter part of 1988 will stress the importance of conservation of the land and its plants and animals for the enjoyment of present and future generations
• WHEREAS, the tiger swallowtail is a beautiful example of the butterfly which is native to the State of Georgia; and WHEREAS, it is only fitting and proper that the tiger swallowtail be designated as the official state butterfly

Two significant reasons are the swallowtail’s beauty and the fact it’s native to Georgia, but there’s a local influence as well — the butterfly center at Callaway is about 45 minutes away from Columbus, and its creation is cited as motivation to designate a state butterfly in Georgia.

Outside of Alabama and Georgia, the Eastern Tiger Swallowtail represents a few other states including Delaware, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Virginia.

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