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Butterfly Observatory: Spreading their Wings

Surrounded by small fountains and water falls that can entice anyone into falling in love Diamante Eco Adventure Park butterfly observatory is a beautiful place. They say good things take time, but for the butterflies that time is very short.

Blue morpho butterfly

Diamante Life Cycle

Diamante Eco Adventure Park has a variety of different species at the butterfly observatory. They get to Diamante in their second stage of life: chrysalis. The chrysalis stage is also known as the pupa stage. This is the longest life stage for the butterfly and its most fragile. The amount of time spent as a chrysalis varies from species to species but it can range anywhere from 1 to 2 weeks.

Hatching

Once the butterfly is fully developed the chrysalis will change color. It will split in two and the butterfly will emerge. It can take anywhere from 20 minutes to 1 hour to fully shed the chrysalis and emerge. Butterfly wings come out coated in a natural fluid found inside the chrysalis, until the wings are fully dry the butterfly will not be able to fly. In their natural habitat, this would mean they are vulnerable for predators to hunt them.

Fully emerged butterfly from the chrysalis.

Spreading their wings

Once the butterflies are fully out of their chrysalis, we transfer them with great care into a protected mesh drying area where we can look out for them and make sure they are in a safe environment. Butterflies are not released into the observatory until their wings are fully dry. The process of drying can take anywhere from 2 hours to a full day.

Flying

So how do we know when their wings are dry and ready to be released? Easy: butterflies start to show slow controlled movements of their wings. This means it’s time to release them into their habitat. Watching a butterfly fly away for their first time is a magical moment that will leave you in awe and wonder of what nature can create. Butterflies live in their adult stage 3 to 4 weeks, meaning they have a very short but beautiful life span.

Monarch butterfly released into the butterfly observatory

The Animal Sanctuary at Diamanté Eco Adventure Park is open 365 days a year, from 9:00AM to 4:30PM, come visit us and meet our amazing wild life family! Acquire our Discovery Pass (Animal Sanctuary) for $38 and spend the day with us!

For more information visit:

Www.diamanteecoadventurepark.com

+ (506) 2105-5200

Pura vida!