Day 9 - Getting a Shipment from Costa Rica

    Celeste let me choose between tending to the reptiles and the Conservatory or prepping the Insect Zoo, and I decided on the Conservatory. I didn't prefer one over the other, though! I just felt I could be more helpful when fixing up the Conservatory before it opened. So I made the turtles and iguanas food (with the special Thursday topping of Vitamin D powder) and topped off the hangers and torches. I hand-fed Charo, and went to the lower level of the Conservatory to feed the cavefish before heading up to do a butterfly release. 

    There weren't too many butterflies today, and a few might have been a part of the Longevity Study, so I made sure to put them in a cage to the side for later inspection. I went through all the same steps of wiping down each chamber and misting and/or changing the paper towels. I also dumped some water at the bottom of the chamber as usual to increase the humidity much more. After I had captured some butterflies, there was a group of kids watching me work, and I let one of them do the release. He was really excited about it, too! 

This is an example of a butterfly's camoflage abilities.
The chrysalides are made to appear as rotting sticks.
This butterfly is currently a part of the Longevity Study.

    Once that was done, Celeste told me that a shipment had just arrived from Costa Rica with more butterfly pupa. We headed to the dock to retrieve the package and open it up in the Chrysalis Corner. Thankfully, there had only been one butterfly that emerged, and the rest were fine. Once we organised the species alphabetically, we began gluing them to a new styrofoam board. This was a lengthy process, and at the end of it we had 2 boards of butterfly pupa. We replaced old boards that had leftover chrysalides and unsuccessful pupa and then misted them to increase the humidity in the chambers. 

Facts I learned: 

• I asked Celeste about how the chrysalides get their pigment, and she said that scientists didn't really know the answer. Sometimes a butterfly's chrysalis changes based on what it's attached to, such as a leaf or a branch. Other times it will simply be a different colour. Some are made to blend in, while others are not.