I would like to make an apology for taking so long on updating my blog. It has been a very exhausting trip back home to Taiwan for Chinese New Year. But now I'm back and the animal blog continues.
Butterflies are probably one of the few insects that are pleasant to watch and to be around with. Of course, I'm also one of the human population who enjoys their existence and beauty. This picture was taken in the Taipei Zoo when I visited there.
Butterflies are probably one of the few insects that are pleasant to watch and to be around with. Of course, I'm also one of the human population who enjoys their existence and beauty. This picture was taken in the Taipei Zoo when I visited there.
Like bees around the world, butterflies actually play an important part for the environment, such as spreading pollen from flower to flower, so that the flowers can produce its fruits and so on. This particular butterfly is called the Large Tree Nymph, it is the largest butterfly in Taiwan, considering the fact that it's wing spread go to up to nearly 13 cm.. It is a such a slow flying butterfly, even in the wild, that it requires very little effort to fly its wing beats are very slow, so slow that the individual movements of each wing can be easily observed. Imagine the difference in the wing movement between those butterflies to the Humming Birds!! Speaking of which, I guess I will write something about Humming Birds for my next blog!
Anyway, the Large tree Nymph spends most of its time on flying and hovering in the high tree canopies (A canopy means like a top cover, like a lid for a pot or like a shelter. On the topic of trees, I guess it means the top of a luscious tree.). However, much like a sloth, who also lives on trees all the time, moves slowly but they do come down the tree from time to time, the Nymph also descends to ground level to feed and to breed, but does not rest on the ground, due to safety reasons of being attack and eaten by birds and such. It usually rests on the ends of dead branches or twigs.
Anyway, the Large tree Nymph spends most of its time on flying and hovering in the high tree canopies (A canopy means like a top cover, like a lid for a pot or like a shelter. On the topic of trees, I guess it means the top of a luscious tree.). However, much like a sloth, who also lives on trees all the time, moves slowly but they do come down the tree from time to time, the Nymph also descends to ground level to feed and to breed, but does not rest on the ground, due to safety reasons of being attack and eaten by birds and such. It usually rests on the ends of dead branches or twigs.
By the way, just out of curiosity, do you think you're romantic when it comes to dating? At least I think I'm romantic when it comes to it. Animals can also be quite seductive and very sexy if the time of love is in the air. When mating season the male and female fly together for an hour or more (it's like a Spanish tango of seduction.) before mating, which occurs at ground level. The male releases a hormones sent, called the pheromones, and other chemicals from its hair pencils to stimulate the female. These include danaidone, a poisonous substance that helps to protect it from predators, which is later passed on to the eggs.
The early stages of life of the Ceylon Tree Nymph are not well recorded. One account by naturalists Lionel de Nicéville and Manders dating from about 1900 describes the larva as "velvety black with four pairs of long filamentous tentacles" with each segment of its body marked with a pale yellow band. The record further mentions that it has twelve segments and that the sixth segment has a "large oval crimson spot". Its head and legs are black.
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