EMPEROR butterflies comprise some of the largest most beautiful butterflies found in the Durban area.
To me, they are like the celebrities of the butterfly kingdom – they are large, brightly coloured, fast flying and enjoy a good drink.
There are over 20 different species of emperor butterfly found in South Africa, with the majority of them also residing in the Durban area. Nowadays they are more commonly known by their scientific name, which is ‘Charaxes’.
Some species of emperor butterflies have also learned to make use of some alien invasive plants as food plants for their larvae. For example the pearl emperor butterfly often chooses to lay its eggs on the pesky balloon vine. However this should not entice gardeners to consider planting this or any other alien invasive plant in their gardens to attract insects, as there are loads of indigenous plants which do the job just as well.
Unlike the majority of butterflies, these are not attracted to flowers. However they like nothing more than a good drink from some fermenting fruit. They are very fast flying butterflies, even able to outfly and outmanoeuvre swallows. However once they have had a good drink from some fermented fruit, things can get rather funny to watch.
So if you would like to attract some of these butterfly celebrities to your garden you may consider hanging out an old orange pocket with some rotting fruit in it, some folks say this is cruel, however these butterflies are quite willing to drink from wild fermenting fruit too. Other things which attract emperor butterflies are the sap of some trees and certain animal droppings, such as those of mongoose.
If you would like to make contact with Warren to have some of your interesting insects, snakes or spiders identified, send him a Whatsapp or call on 072-211-0353.
