Once a year, the San Diego Safari Park (part of the San Diego Zoo), fills one of their bird enclosures with butterflies. The butterfly exhibit only lasts a month and is insanely crowded on the weekends. In fact, you have to get a separate (included) ticket with an appointment time. Fortunately, it was Easter Sunday and we got there early so we were let in ½ hour before our appointment. Even then, it was already full of people. When we visited a butterfly garden in Mindo, Ecuador we were the only people there for most of our visit. The crowds were a disappointment. However, it was good to see how excited everyone was about the butterflies. Most people were captivated by the Blue Morphos who not only flash their stunning blue wings but also are quite happy to perch on peoples’ clothing, hair and hands.
Most of the butterflies were tropical butterflies from Asia and South and Central America. There were orange Julias (Dryas Julia), various swallow-tails, zebra longwings (Heliconius charitonia), postmen (Heliconius melpomene), and many more. There were some locals as well like the gulf fritillary and giant swallowtail. I liked the white paper kites (Idea leuconoe) that flew above everyone, occasionally diving down into the fray. The butterfly I found most interesting was the red cracker (Hamadryas amphinome). Most of the time it seemed to rest away from the crowds on the back glass of the enclosure which no one could get to. Then one came out and perched on a boy. One of its wings was broken at the tip and fell off as the boy was holding it. This reminded me of another sad feature of this butterfly exhibit. Since most of the butterflies were tropical, the zoo didn’t raise them. Instead they ordered chrysalises from butterfly farms in Asia and South America. Unlike Mindo, where the butterflies would lay eggs that would become caterpillars and the life cycle would continue, this exhibit was a temporary habitat where in the end, all the butterflies would just die. There were no larval food plants. The nectar for the butterflies was from potted flowers or nectar feeders. All of them would be removed at the end of the exhibit.
I do admit, being in an enclosed space with all the colorful butterflies and flowers is a magical experience. I’m sure it is also a great educational experience for the children as well. The zoo workers were very good about making sure none of these exotic butterflies escaped. I also heard that local school children raised some of the butterflies used for the exhibit.
Since the exhibit was so crowded, we were relieved to leave. We took the tram ride around the Africa savanna enclosures and then walked up the stairs of a tower leading back to the upper level of the park. At the top, we looked down at a grassy area next to some trees below where a beautiful new brood mourning cloak rested. Its wings were rich brown and not ragged like the old brood ones that had survived the winter. A western swallowtail also flew off into the trees.
