April 2, 2015 Thursday

Butterfly pupae at San Diego Zoo - level 3

Animal care staff at San Diego Zoo Safari Park have gently unpacked 130 butterfly pupae. They were confiscated by US Fish and Wildlife officials from a shipment sent to the United States on Thursday.

“A hundred and thirty specimens, our staff unpacked them, examined every one of them to see what condition they were in.”

The pupae living butterfly cocoons are an endangered species.

Known by their common name Birdwing, their cocoons were gently unpacked and examined by the zoo staff.

“Stick it like that!”

“They’re now being hung up which means we pin them by their cremaster, as it would be in the wild, and at that point, the butterfly will emerge on its own.”

Birdwings are named for their exceptional size, angular wings and bird-like flight. They’re native to India and Southeast Asia.

Difficult words: pupa (an insect before it becomes an adult, when a special cover protects it), confiscate (to take something officially), specimen (one animal), cocoon (an insect’s cover), endangered species (an animal kind which may die out soon), cremaster (the hook-like tip of a pupa), emerge (to come out), angular (having sharp corners).