“Butterflies Alive” is back at the Santa Barbara Museum of Natural History, along with “Prehistoric Forest.”
Here are all the photos I took during my recent visit to Butterflies Alive, and here is a guide to the butterflies on display, all of which were raised in Costa Rica and brought here.
The giant Blue Morpho butterfly is the highlight of the exhibit. It’s quite difficult to get a good photo of its blue side as it’s usually resting with its wings folded, like this:
But apparently it had a special charm for me, and I was able to get a lovely photo of Marley resting, blue side up, on my hat. [At the top] Here’s one close up.
This is a Blue Morpho bench.
One of the guides, named Jean, remarked that the amount of butterflies that landed on me was unusual – at least 10 times – and Marley also had one land on him – a Malachite on his wrist and a Blue Morpho on his back.
Fruit plates were set out for the butterflies and it became a popular watering hole.
The underside of the Great Horned Owl is similar to the Blue Morpho, but it has one large eyeball.
One interesting behavior we observed seemed to be some sort of courtship display, although the guides were unsure if it was courtship or a territorial dispute. Here are two videos that capture this interesting behavior:
The butterflies have settled down and are actually mating, with their backs to each other.
Please note that this is all for nothing; the import and release of insects is strictly regulated by the Department of Agriculture, which requires that all eggs and larvae be destroyed to prevent the possibility of introducing non-native insects into the local environment. Entry and exit to the exhibit is via a double door system to prevent insects from boarding and escaping.
Here are some more photos of butterflies, some of which were added to the exhibit after the guide was created and therefore are not featured in the guide.
The “Butterflies Alive” exhibit runs through September 2. For more information, visit the Santa Barbara Museum of Natural History website. Catch them before they fly away!
https://www.sbnature.org/
