Unusual Butterfly Behavior

[mbpi at juno.com]

Dear Ron,

I KNEW after I sent that post that SOMEONE would pose the question "was
it dead?!"  I should know by now that abbreviated posts on this listserv
are subject to all sorts of  dubious speculation...

No...the Julia wasn't dead and flew off after the '"vacuum cleaning."  I
have, on occasion, observed some of the butterflies feeding off the dead
remains of their departed tent-mates, much to the horror of uninitiated
visitors...  I just explain there is a bit of "Hannibal Lector" in the
butterflies' true nature.  (A little levity helps alleviate the initial
shock...)

The actual "grooming" took several minutes before both butterflies flew
off to pursue other interests...

No doubt the unnatural conditions of confinement promotes all sorts of
perverse behavior in the unavoidable social encounters of so many diverse
species (!)

Mary Beth Prondzinski

On Sat, 23 Jun 2001 21:53:27 -0400 "Ron Gatrelle" <gatrelle at tils-ttr.org>
writes:
> Mary Beth,
>     This is a real dumb question, but, I'll ask it. Was the julia 
> alive?
> One frequently finds living leps "feeding" on dead ones - road kills 
> etc.
> If the julia was healthy and you saw it fly off strongly after the
> encounter - I would like to know what the deal was too. Did this 
> last very
> long? As you said very unusual.
> Ron
> 
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: <mbpi at juno.com>
> To: <LEPS-L at lists.yale.edu>
> Sent: Saturday, June 23, 2001 7:25 PM
> Subject: Re: Unusual Butterfly Behavior
> 
> 
> > Hi all,
> >
> > I observed something unusual today in the outdoor exhibit where I 
> work:
> > A Monarch "grooming" a Julia (!)  It was standing on the Julia, 
> working
> > its proboscis over the Julia's wings like a vacuum cleaner, while 
> the
> > Julia remained as complacent as if it were having an itch 
> relieved...
> > There was no sexual behavior observed between them.
> >
> > Any takers on what was going on?!
> >
> > M.B. Prondzinski
> > ________________________________________________________________
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