Journaling reads: The Conservatory even has a chrysalis hatchery. Peeking into the nursery window there are Blue Morphos at various points in the pupa (chrysalis) stage. It takes about 14 days for the butterflies to emerge and then they need do the quick Houdini escape in about 1 to 2 minutes, a few minutes to unfurl (well, they’ve been wearing a corset for 2 weeks) and about 2 hours for their wings to dry. With a life span of about 115 days the butterfly has to get some flying, eating and mating done. Those blue wings aren’t because their wings have blue pigment, but rather by up to a million tiny overlapping scales that are arranged in a diamond pattern of several thin layers which reflect lights again and again to create intense color. The sequined jackets of the butterfly kingdom. The outer part of the wing has a distinctive eye pattern and brown in color to camouflage itself in the forest and those eyes scare predators. Go figure, the males get the sequined blue jackets to strut their stuff while the females are brown with smaller areas of blue. I’d want that blue jacket, but if brown is part of your wardrobe and you like patterns the female has the jacket you want.
