The California Pipevine Swallowtail (Battus philenor hirsuta) is a locally rare butterfly within San Francisco. Now, thanks to California Academy of Sciences aquatic biologist, Tim Wong, the butterfly species is gradually repopulating in the area again.
The biologist built a greenhouse for the butterflies in his own backyard. It had all the perfect conditions for butterflies to grow – sunlight, temperature fluctuations, and an occasional nice breeze. He also learned that the butterflies only feed on one plant – the California pipevine (Aristolochia californica), which was pretty hard to track down. After a while, Wong found the plant in a botanical garden, which allowed him to take a few clippings of the plant. Once his butterfly paradise was built, Wong transported 20 caterpillars to it and let them grow. Now, around 3 years later, his butterfly home is thriving, and he’s not stopping yet!
This is just so very cool. You can see more here.
The plant itself is rather interesting (from Ye Pfffft! of All Knowledge):
Due to the quite distinctive shape of the flowers (see picture at Ye Pfffft!), another name is “California Dutchman’s-pipe”.
There’s a benevolent goddess and she created those perfect butterflies just for me.
There’s a malicious goddess who created the perfect butterflies on a different continent than the one I’m on.
Those colours are like a dream. Like the sky when the stars appear in the deep dark but the horizon is still blue.
Giliell:
Yes. They carry the universe.