The Dazzling Wings | Butterflies in the Wild

This month is all about butterfly. While I was strolling along a stream not too far from my house yesterday, I came across these beautiful male butterflies (Pendlebury's Zebra) feeding on minerals from the sandy soil. The essential minerals which have leached from the surrounding soil and rocks may be used to make pheromones (chemical substances that males use to attract females) and sperms.

Though they were not beautifully-coloured (as butterflies are known for the beauty of their colourful wings), this species however still looked attractive with white spots and stripes beautified their dark brown wings. The body (abdomen) was brown-white-striped whilst the throax and the head were black with some white spots.

After nearly 30 minutes of 'stalking' these dazzling airborne creatures, I finally got a sequence of around 20 shots and these are the images that I am genuinely pleased with.

The Lord of the Wings

Among the most colourful and attractive animals in the gardens are flying insects such as butterflies. Butterflies are particularly photogenic and can be easily found flitting around nectar-rich blossoms. Similar to other insects, butterflies have 2 pairs of wings, 6 legs, 3 body parts (head, thorax and abdomen), a pair of antennae, compound eyes, a proboscis and an exoskeleton.

Butterflies undergo complete metamorphosis in which they go through four different life stages. This metamorphosis consists of egg, larva (caterpillar), pupa (chrysalis) and imago (adult butterfly). An average butterfly species has an adult life span of about 2 weeks or less. It is a common misconception that butterflies live for only one day.

The most widespread garden butterflies are the New Lacewing, Tree Nymph, Yellow Birdwing and The Clipper, and many of these can be found at formal butterfly farm like Penang Butterfly Farm. Housing over 7000 captive bred Malaysian butterflies together with over 300 nectar-rich plants, the farm is an Eden-like sanctuary not only for butterflies, but also for various insects and other creepy-crawlies.