Wow -- incredibly beautiful. It’s amazing how much color is in that one little arthropod.
rqsays
I like the blue spots along the edges. Gorgeous creature, gorgeous shots!
blfsays
The mildly deranged penguin says the blue spots at the edges are an attempt to mimic some of the wild blued cheeses in the area. The wild blues, when unripe and not too tasty, are brightly coloured. So the critter is trying to look like an untasty immature wild blued cheese.
The only local native predators of either is the wild blued itself; they tend to eat each other when they can’t catch their favourite food, the now rather-rare unidragon, a small (about the size of a warthog) dragon with a unicorn-like horn. The horn is used rather like a skewer, making it easy for the fire-breathing dragon to barbecue it’s meal.†
So the critter is trying to hide from its predator by looking like the predator’s predator, which is the predator itself. This is quite confusing, which explains why the critter spends all day sipping at the nectar bar, then erratically flying home.
† Despite being quite fierce-looking, the unidragon is actually quite tame.‡ And vegetarian. It mostly barbecues carrots.
‡ Which is why the unidragon is so rare. Brave knights keep walking up to them and chopping off the horn as a trophy. Dehorned, the unidragon is unable to cook its meals, weakens, and is usually eventually eaten by wild blueds.
busterggisays
Thanks, there has been a shortage of butterflies up my way this year.
voyagersays
Beautiful photos. Thanks for sharing.
Ice Swimmersays
Not only is the butterfly beautiful, but look at the exquisite patterns in the flowers (that look familiar, I think the shape has been used as an ornament).
Wow -- incredibly beautiful. It’s amazing how much color is in that one little arthropod.
I like the blue spots along the edges. Gorgeous creature, gorgeous shots!
The mildly deranged penguin says the blue spots at the edges are an attempt to mimic some of the wild blued cheeses in the area. The wild blues, when unripe and not too tasty, are brightly coloured. So the critter is trying to look like an untasty immature wild blued cheese.
The only local native predators of either is the wild blued itself; they tend to eat each other when they can’t catch their favourite food, the now rather-rare unidragon, a small (about the size of a warthog) dragon with a unicorn-like horn. The horn is used rather like a skewer, making it easy for the fire-breathing dragon to barbecue it’s meal.†
So the critter is trying to hide from its predator by looking like the predator’s predator, which is the predator itself. This is quite confusing, which explains why the critter spends all day sipping at the nectar bar, then erratically flying home.
† Despite being quite fierce-looking, the unidragon is actually quite tame.‡ And vegetarian. It mostly barbecues carrots.
‡ Which is why the unidragon is so rare. Brave knights keep walking up to them and chopping off the horn as a trophy. Dehorned, the unidragon is unable to cook its meals, weakens, and is usually eventually eaten by wild blueds.
Thanks, there has been a shortage of butterflies up my way this year.
Beautiful photos. Thanks for sharing.
Not only is the butterfly beautiful, but look at the exquisite patterns in the flowers (that look familiar, I think the shape has been used as an ornament).