How to catch a butterfly
As a kid, I remember chasing butterflies and trying to capture them in the fleeting moments that one flew by. It was of course an impossible feat.
But at a butterfly farm in Mindo, Ecuador, dozens of the winged-beauties landed right on me.
The farm breeds butterflies (note: Not because the climate is good or anything, although I suppose it is, but for a tourist attraction.) and hundreds are born every morning. It only takes 10 days for the dozens of eggs planted in a tree to hatch into a catepillar. After two to five weeks, the catepillar pupates into a cacoon where it stays for one to two weeks before becoming a butterfly.
All the butterflies born that day.
So what´s the trick to catching these beauties? Mashed banana.
Soak your finger in mashed banana (doesn´t seem to work if there´s a big chunk, the liquid is enough) and let the butterflies come to you. Or, put your finger in front of a butterfly at rest and chances are it will climb on to your hand for a snack.
A butterfly in my hand.
Two butteflies on my hand.
Me and my winged friends.
Me.
-JDF
