“The greatest threat to butterflies are habitat change and loss due to residential, commercial and agricultural development.”
Our butterflies are sourced from Butterfly Farms around the world, these farms help preserve areas of rainforests from being used for commercial farming. This is achieved by maintaining the lands natural biodiversity which most farming destroys. Communities are paid higher wages to indirectly preserve these areas of the rainforest through butterfly farming than they would get through being employed by a mono-crop farm. Butterfly farms protect large areas of forests, they incentivize families to protect local forests where they are situated, they provide an alternative to selling land for mono-crop farming.
A list of the major threats to butterflies can be found here.
These farms provide an income to locals and improve the biodiversity through allowing the forests to thrive. It protects native species of insects and plants from becoming endangered or extinct. Selling insets can be one of the few means by which locals can earn income to support families and preserve their native environments. It encourages governments to maintain their natural flora and fauna to preserve indigenous habitats and environments.
The process involves releasing female butterflies, wild or bred in captivity into an enclosure containing a vast amount of native plants. The ova laid by said female butterflies are removed once laid. These eggs are placed in a position to monitor their development into pupae (form between larva and adult). This process encourages farmers to conserve their forests through seeing the development and growth of the link between their livelihood and the presence of forested areas.
These farms are based all around the globe and we have procurers who provide access to purchasing these specimens. These farming programmes allow for butterfly populations to be sustained and grow. Butterfly eggs have a small chance of survival in the wild, with only 1-2 per 100 eggs surviving to adulthood. Butterfly farms however provide a success rate of between 70-90 eggs per 100 surviving to adulthood, some of these butterflies are released back into the wild to bolster up numbers.
Butterfly farming provides an alternative income source requiring low levels of investment to start. Basic skills and concepts can be easily learnt by locals and simple non-expensive equipment is required.
Typically 70% of the butterflies farmed are released into nature and 30% are used for entomology, scientific study, private collections and other purposes. If these farms were not set up in such a way money would not be going into conserving these important rainforests and habitats.
None of the Butterflies used are endangered.