Today I would like to share this amazing little butterfly with you.
This little butterfly is called the “Yellow Zulu,” and this particular specimen I fould at the Kenneth Stainbank Nature Reserve in Yellow Wood Park.
In June this year I spotted a female butterfly laying eggs on a rock within the reserve. I thought this was a strange place for her to be laying her eggs, so I went home and did a little research. The larva of these butterflies are really interesting in that they feed exclusively on Lichen (a type of fungi) that grows on rocks.
On the 7th of December I was back at the reserve and found this interesting little larva on the underside of a rock and it turned out to be a larva of the Yellow Zulu. Within two days it pupated:
Then about ten days later came a beautiful butterfly.
A lot of people carelessly just kill off caterpillars when they find them on plants, so this is my plea to young and old, specially parents with young children ( it can even be a fun holiday project). The next time you find some interesting caterpillars on a plant, don’t kill them, instead keep them in an ice-cream tub, shoe box or similar container. Give them fresh plant food (whatever they were eating when you found them) daily, and experience the joy of discovering what they turn into. A beautiful butterfly, or even and ugly moth.
This will teach your children and possibly even yourself to have so much more respect for God’s little creatures around you.
Please feel free to visit my Photography page for more pictures of God’s amazing little creatures found in and around the Bluff: www.facebook.com/WkDickPhotography
God Bless
Warren.K.Dick
