Entomologist who championed Kinabalu Birdwing as state butterfly passes away

KOTA KINABALU: Sabah butterfly conservationist Dr Stephen Sutton passed away after a short illness on New Year's Eve. He was 85.

State Tourism, Culture and Environment Minister Datuk Christina Liew described his death as a great loss to the state as he was an entomologist and key researcher in butterfly conservation in the state.

"It was his contribution in the Kinabalu Birdwing (Troides Andromache) research that prompted the state government to declare the butterfly the Sabah state butterfly," she said in a statement on Saturday (Jan 6).

She said that Sutton, through the Kota Kinabalu Rotary Club initiative, had been passionately at the forefront of the butterfly research project since 2019.

It culminated with the Sabah Government officially declaring the Kinabalu Birdwing as the official state butterfly on Sept 13 last year.

The Kinabalu Birdwing is a rare and endangered species found mainly on the foothills of Mount Kinabalu.

Liew said that Sutton and his team worked together with her ministry, Sabah Biodiversity Centre, Sabah Forestry Department, Sabah Parks, Sabah Wildlife Department, Universiti Malaysia Sabah (UMS) and the State Attorney General's Chambers to get the Kinabalu Birdwing gazetted as Sabah’s State butterfly.

"I was informed by his brother-in-law (natural history publisher Datuk C.L.Chan) that Sutton's last visit to see the conservation site at the Kinabalu Mountain Lodge was on Oct 22, 2023, despite his frailty," she said in extending her condolences to the family.

Sutton had also donated RM40,000 to the Kota Kinabalu Rotary Club for the Kinabalu Birdwing conservation project.

Unknown to many, Sutton has been consistently supporting the local communities at the foothills of Mount Kinabalu, especially Kampung Kiau Nuluh, to plant Aristolochia Foveolata, the larval food plant of the Kinabalu Birdwing, to increase the butterfly’s population, Liew said.

Sutton has been involved in research and conservation activities since the 1970s.

He had led major expedition teams from the United Kingdom to Sabah, lectured at Leeds University and became the research coordinator for the South East Asia Rainforest Research Programme (SEARRP) based at Danum Valley Lahad Datu under a collaboration between the Royal Society of London and Yayasan Sabah.

He also collaborated with world-renowned naturalist David Attenborough on several programmes and is credited for authoring eight books and publishing over 75 papers.

Sutton was a Doctor of Philosophy from Oxford, a Royal Entomological Society (UK) Fellow, and a Royal Geographical Society (UK) Fellow.