Insect lovers are going to
extraordinary lengths to give injured butterflies an extra few weeks of life
Eleanor
Ainge Roy in Dunedin
Tue 1 May
2018 03.51 BST Last modified on Tue 1 May 2018 06.17 BST
New Zealand’s love affair with
the monarch butterfly has reached bizarre new heights, with some devotees
performing wing transplants on the insects to give them a few extra weeks of
life.
Although the butterflies are not
classified as threatened or endangered, some lepidopterists have carried out the
unusual surgery using techniques picked up from
YouTube.
The operations involve removing
the deformed or injured wings and repairing or fitting a new one from a dead
monarch using tweezers, superglue and talcum powder.
On average monarchs live for
between two to six weeks.
The operation is not painful for
the butterfly, but experts and conservationists say the outcome for the animal
is unknown, and efforts would be better directed towards cultivating flowers
and plants that would attract and aid the wider population.
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