Butterfly – Butterfly Pavilion                                             click to enlarge

Because we’re living in the new Ice Age and any self-respecting wild thing has checked itself into the local Marriott to get out of the cold, I had to resort to finding wild things that were indoors. That meant going to the Butterfly Pavilion which has a gigazon of wild things of the insectoid persuasion. We’re talking primarily butterflies or as they’re known in the trade Butterfliticus Alotii.

According to The Institutes leading Plantologist, Bud Tender, who is an expert on plants and things that grow in the ground, plants and more particularly their flowers are the leading source of food for these multicolored winged farmers of the air.

When you first enter their domain there is a whirlwind of confusion as these gorgeous creatures swirl and dance around you, flitting here and there on butterfly business, seemingly at random, but gradually one begins to make sense of what appears to be chaos.

As you begin to sort out the colors and sizes and watch what each is doing it becomes apparent that there is order here. Each group seems to have their own purpose and goes about it with determination and zeal. This guy pictured above, is part of a group of Butterfliticus known more casually by its latin name of Budizoid Tenderii and it has a very specific job.

Since all these guys eat flower parts, flowers are of paramount importance here. They need to be watched carefully, tended with great attention and groomed for their arrival at the dinner table. That’s this guys job. We’ll call him Phil. Phil’s seen here testing this bud for burstiness, which is like a super important butterfly job, because as soon as it pops everybody, and I mean everybody and their cousin, and their cousin’s dog, is going to be swarming this baby sticking their little proboscis into it until it is just a shrunken shell of it’s former self. Harsh as it may sound it is just life on the butterfly frontier.

Although this has been a change from my dreary life of shooting Lions, and Tigers and Bears it has been an interesting way to pass the cold, cold day outside. Now if I could just find the Cannibal, Zombie, Killer, Vampire Assassin butterflies that they say lurk in the deep shadows where the Devil’s Tongue Flower blooms I’ll consider the day a success.