Base Behavior of Butterflies...

[Nigel Venters]

More filthy habits!
Papilios are well known for drinking at mud, and love urine...some urine on
a sand bar near a river will attract many males (Females ignore mud and
urine!) However many years ago when in Central Africa I was following a
stream bed through a section of rain forest...and then it hit me...the most
terrible smell you can imagine...I followed this for a further 50 yards to
find that a crab eating otter had been sick on some flat rocks by the
stream....well you can't imagine the swarms of Papilios gathered
there...like confetti...but hundreds more lined up alongside each other
eagerly sipping the most vile liquid imaginable....all males of course! It
was so pungent it was hard to get close without being sick myself!
regards
Nigel
----- Original Message -----
From: <mbpi at juno.com>
To: <LEPS-L at lists.yale.edu>
Sent: Wednesday, September 18, 2002 12:00 AM
Subject: RE: Base Behavior of Butterflies...


> Hello, all you snipers...
>
> All this talk about the seamier-side to butterfly ethology is well and
> good....
>
> BUT...you forgot to mention that the reason that butterflies are NOT
> maligned in the same manner as the other insects you mentioned is because
> they AREN'T on the same level as PESTS to the human species as spiders,
> flies, roaches and mosquitoes are (!)  Butterflies don't "bite," "sting,"
> foul our food, cause diseases, or buzz in our ears...  They don't even
> produce a "shock value" when they appear unexpectedly!
>
> They may posess the same filthy habits of other insects, but they don't
> raise our blood pressure or produce screams of fear when encountered...
> EXCEPT when they are encountered in unnatural surroundings like butterfly
> tents... then they DO (on occasion) cause alarm to the uninitiated when
> they do the unexpected, i.e. lay eggs on people...
>
> Mary Beth Prondzinski
>
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