Although there has been a lot of media attention about these butterfly valleys in recent years, butterflies have many centuries of history in southern Taiwan's low-elevation valleys. Rukai Aborigines in the Maolin area used images of butterflies in their traditional clothing and headdress.
「紫蝶幽谷」雖然近年在媒體爆紅，但其實它們在南台灣的低海拔山區已有幾百年歷史，茂林一帶魯凱族的傳統服裝、頭飾一直都有蝴蝶圖騰。