The flighty butterfly has always been a favorite animal, but how many kinds of butterflies are there?
What are the unique patterns on their beautiful wings?
Recently, the Chinese classical butterfly art form exhibition opened in the China Wetland Museum, and nearly 1000 butterflies “flew” into the Xixi Wetland. These common questions were also solved.
The butterfly theme cultural exhibition originally created by the China Wetland Museum can not only feast your eyes, but also comprehensively introduce the natural and cultural and scientific knowledge of butterflies, which can be called a “butterfly archive”.
What beautiful butterflies have been invited? Don’t worry, the reporters will ask for you.
Most of the butterflies on display come from abroad
“Digital butterfly” and “goddess of light butterfly” are all the best
The exhibition is divided into three parts: butterfly’s natural character, butterfly form and cultural art, butterfly form and cultural heritage. A total of 933 butterfly specimens and 171 folk products are displayed. When you enter the museum, you can see the quick questions and quick answers about butterfly knowledge on a whole science popularization wall. Around the circular corridor, a variety of butterfly photography works are presented one by one. Through the wonderful moments captured by these photographers, many mysteries can be seen – the infinitely magnified butterfly shape details under the lens, and the different butterfly life habits are beautifully reflected in the eyes.
The most exciting part of the exhibition is the specimen wall in the exhibition hall. “Most of the butterflies on display this time are hard to see at ordinary times, because they are produced in foreign countries and not distributed in China.” Qiao Dongdong, a staff member of the China Wetland Museum, said, “There are many kinds of butterflies. There are nearly 20000 species in the world, and nearly half of them are distributed in Latin America. Because of their strong viability, they can also be seen in some extreme environments, such as deserts, mountains, swamps, etc.”
Among them, there is a kind of butterfly from Brazil, which is called “digital butterfly”. The most special thing is that the patterns are clearly printed with Arabic numerals such as 88, 98 and 80, which can be regarded as a spectacle. It is reported that a full set of A~Z Latin letters and Arabic numerals from 0 to 9 were also taken on the butterfly wings in the photos of American photographers. The same interesting butterfly pattern is the arrow ring butterfly wing, which looks like a fisherman.
The reporter also saw that the “goddess of light butterfly”, which is known as the most beautiful butterfly in the world, has the blue color of its front wings changing from dark blue, deep blue and light blue. The whole wing surface is like a string of bright halos embedded in the blue sky, with a metallic luster. Its shape and color are impeccable beauty, and it can be called the best butterfly.
The habits of butterflies are mysterious and interesting
Monarch butterfly migrates more than 4000 kilometers
In addition to the beautiful butterfly pattern, some “personalized” butterflies have many unexpected habits.
As we all know, butterflies are temperature-changing animals, and their body temperature and activities are affected by the external temperature. Generally speaking, the temperature in spring and autumn is suitable, honey plants are abundant, and butterfly activities are the most frequent, with relatively rich quantity and species; High temperature in summer, slightly reduced; In winter, they overwinter in the form of pupae. Affected by the altitude and ecological environment, the range of butterfly activities varies with different butterfly species.
It is worth mentioning that there are more than 200 kinds of butterflies in the world who have the habit of migrating. The migrating groups are large and small, and the distance is long and short. Like the spotted butterfly, it is the “flying master” of insects, and the farthest flying is the monarch spotted butterfly in North America. Every autumn, when the cold wave sweeps across the North American continent, they move southward in groups to survive the winter, moving from Canada and the northern United States to the “Butterfly Valley” in the mountains of Mexico, with a flight distance of more than 4000 kilometers and a flight time of more than two months, and then move northward in the next spring. They will also mate and lay eggs along the way, but because of their short life, most butterflies die in the middle of the way, and the rest of the return journey will be completed by their descendants. Amazingly, the monarch butterfly has learned to find a way to fly back to the same place thousands of kilometers away every year for generations, and the mystery remains unsolved.
“There is also a smart butterfly, the front and back wings of which are very similar to the withered leaves of a broad-leaved tree. The veins on the wings are also very similar to the veins on the leaves. This is a typical defense mode of butterflies – mimicry.” Qiao Dongdong told reporters that the butterfly makes its shape, stripes and color similar to the surrounding natural objects to simulate other objects, so as to deceive natural enemies and protect itself. “There are also butterflies that threaten the enemy with snake-eyed stripes or special antennae odor. Like owl butterflies, the whole wing surface resembles the face of owls, which can scare off natural enemies. This is another way of butterfly defense, that is, alert color.”
The prototype of Liang Zhu’s butterfly is Jade Belt Phoenix Butterfly
There are also butterfly coins abroad
Butterflies are regarded as flowers among animals, which also carry the beautiful imagination given by people. Throughout the ages, many beautiful legends also revolve around the theme of butterflies.
In the Miao nationality, butterfly is the symbol of the ancestor and is respected by people. It is said that the “mother butterfly” is changed from a maple tree, and the legend “Ancient Song of the Miao Nationality – Cutting the Maple Tree” also fully describes the legend.
“There is also the legend of Liang and Zhu.” The curator, Zhou Yuan, said that the birthplace of the love story between Liang Shanbo and Zhu Yingtai has been controversial for thousands of years. Yixing, Jiangsu Province, Ruxian, Henan Province, Jinan, Shandong Province, and so on have all been said, but it is generally believed that in Yinxian, Zhejiang Province, which is now Yinzhou, Ningbo. According to the later research of insect taxonomist Mr. Zhou Yao, the butterfly that turns into a butterfly and flies in Yinxian County is actually a hermaphroditic jade ribbon butterfly.
Since ancient times, butterflies have been widely used in arts and crafts design. For example, the embroidery on the clothing of ancient people, the hairpin ornaments on the head, and the wooden boxes, colorful embroideries, ceramics, paper-cut window flowers, paintings, stamps, etc. used by modern people, many of which are butterfly patterns or have butterfly patterns. And there are many kinds of coins and commemorative coins around the world that are also related to butterflies. For example, Sri Lanka’s coins with a face value of 20, 50, 100, 500, 1000 and 5000 rupees in the 2010 edition are printed with the local butterfly pattern in the lower left corner of the front.
It is reported that the exhibition will last for three months.