Blue Morph Butterflies
The Blue Morph Butterfly is local to this area, Central and South America as well as Mexico. the Butterfly Farm here at Chaa Creek was established in 1993, and they specialize in the captive breeding of the Blue Morpho Butterfly, .... much as i do with the Monarch Butterflies.
the development cycle is the same; except their caterpillar stage lasts for 10 WEEKS... not 10 days as is the case with the Monarchs, and they hang for 4 days before transforming into the pupa, instead of 1 day. the caterpiller only eats the leaves of the Ant Tree.
the caterpillers also undergo changes in their colors as they go from one instar to another ... in the beginning when they are tiny, they are bright red and black and yellow. these colors signify that they are toxic to birds, geckos, snakes, etc.
as they grow they become more orange and red
.... in their final stages they become very dull in color and move to the bark of trees where they are better camouflaged.
before they transform into the pupa, they become greener, and seek out green leaves and trees to which they will spin their silk web and will, like the Monarchs, hang by their feet, head down, to prepare for their transformation.
another difference is that the Blue Morph Butterfly only eats rotting or fermenting fruit ... not flowers ... interesting. also interesting is that it is only the INSIDE of their wings that are the beautiful blue color ... the outside of the wings are browns with subtle outlines of blue. Here you can see the outside of their wings while they are eating pineapple and melon. i'm thinking that these colors provide more camouflage while they are more vulnerable and eating.
they are beautiful iridescent turquoise to blue butterflies .... depending upon how the light hits them
the Butterfly House
here is a 'collection' of pupa waiting to emerge .... there are rows and rows of them !
they sterilize all their equipment and leaves much as i do. i know from experience, this takes a lot of time. they have hundreds of eggs at one time.
i visited with one of the guys at the butterfly house and told him about my experience with the Monarchs. i had the video on my computer and showed it to him. he was intrigued by the 'cremaster' that the Monarch uses to attached itself when it transforms into it's pupa stage. it's so fun to share information on nature!
i'll also mention here another conservatory effort that was undertaken by Chaa Creek.
In the mid 1950's the Howler Monkeys in Belize were totally wiped out by an epidemic of yellow fever. In the early 1990's, Chaa Creek, in conjuction with The Belize Zoo, The Audobon Society, and the Baboon Sanctuary in Belize City .... reintroduced the Howler Monkey in this area. They placed 5 monkeys on each side of the river. ....one male and 4 females. current numbers are not available but they are seeing mothers with infants, and believe the number to be around 16. the people staying at the River Camp usually hear them howling nightly ... and they say it is the loudest noise they have ever heard, ...and even if they've never heard it before ... they say it is unmistakable. sometimes they see them as well. i've been down to the camp twice, but with no luck. this is the best i can do for now ....
as they grow they become more orange and red
.... in their final stages they become very dull in color and move to the bark of trees where they are better camouflaged.
before they transform into the pupa, they become greener, and seek out green leaves and trees to which they will spin their silk web and will, like the Monarchs, hang by their feet, head down, to prepare for their transformation.
another difference is that the Blue Morph Butterfly only eats rotting or fermenting fruit ... not flowers ... interesting. also interesting is that it is only the INSIDE of their wings that are the beautiful blue color ... the outside of the wings are browns with subtle outlines of blue. Here you can see the outside of their wings while they are eating pineapple and melon. i'm thinking that these colors provide more camouflage while they are more vulnerable and eating.
they are beautiful iridescent turquoise to blue butterflies .... depending upon how the light hits them
the Butterfly House
here is a 'collection' of pupa waiting to emerge .... there are rows and rows of them !
they sterilize all their equipment and leaves much as i do. i know from experience, this takes a lot of time. they have hundreds of eggs at one time.
i visited with one of the guys at the butterfly house and told him about my experience with the Monarchs. i had the video on my computer and showed it to him. he was intrigued by the 'cremaster' that the Monarch uses to attached itself when it transforms into it's pupa stage. it's so fun to share information on nature!
i'll also mention here another conservatory effort that was undertaken by Chaa Creek.
In the mid 1950's the Howler Monkeys in Belize were totally wiped out by an epidemic of yellow fever. In the early 1990's, Chaa Creek, in conjuction with The Belize Zoo, The Audobon Society, and the Baboon Sanctuary in Belize City .... reintroduced the Howler Monkey in this area. They placed 5 monkeys on each side of the river. ....one male and 4 females. current numbers are not available but they are seeing mothers with infants, and believe the number to be around 16. the people staying at the River Camp usually hear them howling nightly ... and they say it is the loudest noise they have ever heard, ...and even if they've never heard it before ... they say it is unmistakable. sometimes they see them as well. i've been down to the camp twice, but with no luck. this is the best i can do for now ....
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