Butterflies

Butterflies, frogs, and many other creatures are disappearing from the planet because of deforestation, use of pesticides, and GMO’s.

Atlas moth from Malaysia, second in size only to the Hercules moth.

I want to talk about butterflies.  Not because they’re pretty and dance in air and drink flowers, but because there is a moment in their lives when they break down into “cellular soup;” they become a liquid surrounded by exoskeleton.

They have cool names from the Iliad, like Morpho Agamemnon, Hypna Clytemnestra, and Adonis Blue.

Pupae hide disguised as curling leaves or golden rain.  A chrysalis is harder than you’d think, and sometimes you can feel the creature moving inside.  The finale of its life in splendid color lasts but a handful of days.

After months of voracious eating the Atlas moth emerges from a cocoon to find it has no mouth.  But change is never easy.

When we destroy the work of Nature, we become an empty husk–never flying, ever-hungry. EVERYTHING was made with love.

Poison dart frogs at the Key West Butterfly and Nature Conservatory