130 butterfly pupae have arrived at the San Diego Zoo Safari Park. These pupae are an endangered species which is native to Indonesia. This shipment was confiscated by the U.S Fish and Wildlife service.
“The butterfly pupae are known by the common name, Birdwing, and they are a CITES 1* protected species,” explained Michael Mace, curator of birds at the San Diego Zoo Safari Park. “We have been able to offer sanctuary to these rare insects and expect that they will live out their lives here at the Park.”
Due to crowding and lack of protection in their shipment container the staff identified that some of the pupae were damaged. The survivors were carefully unpacked and positioned so they will be able to emerge safely from their cocoons as they would in the wild.
*CITES 1 means no trade in the species may occur
Photo Credits:
Top – Wikimediacommons, By Anaxibia, Archaeodontosaurus and JamesDouch, http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Birdwing_representatives.jpg . Shared under CC BY-SA 3.0
Bottom – By Sarefo (Own work) [GFDL (http://www.gnu.org/copyleft/fdl.html), CC-BY-SA-3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/) or CC BY-SA 2.5-2.0-1.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.5-2.0-1.0)], via Wikimedia Commons
