|
|
Post by papilio28570 on Nov 30, 2011 16:17:58 GMT -8
|
|
|
|
Post by saturniidave on Nov 30, 2011 19:20:12 GMT -8
Well in a sense to purists like us, but remember these are now bred in their thousands so not such a waste really.
|
|
|
|
Post by lordpandarus on Dec 1, 2011 6:16:42 GMT -8
I want one of these made with Ornithoptera alexandrae wings
|
|
|
|
Post by wingedwishes on Dec 1, 2011 11:00:02 GMT -8
Is it worse than aboriginal people who used them or feathers for a headress or cloak? I think those must be old since Brazil allegedly closed down export of plates and trays like that. There is also the possibility that they are the a2 wings of specimins which had a very damaged wing and so the remaining 3 were used.
|
|
Deleted
Deleted Member
Posts: 0
|
Post by Deleted on Dec 1, 2011 12:11:00 GMT -8
looks like wholesale slaughter to me.
|
|
|
|
Post by Chris Grinter on Dec 1, 2011 16:20:48 GMT -8
|
|
|
|
Post by wingedwishes on Dec 1, 2011 16:32:06 GMT -8
I missed the price! That is way too much money.
|
|
|
|
Post by johnnyboy on Dec 2, 2011 14:29:04 GMT -8
Farmed butterflies are just another resource, I think that if someone wants to use them as an art material that is OK. It isn't something that I'd buy though, I don't think it looks very nice.
Johnny
|
|
|
|
Post by johnnyboy on Dec 3, 2011 6:21:04 GMT -8
Quite some time ago my wife bought a pair of drop-shaped morpho wing earrings from Robert Gooden when we visited the place he used to have in Sherborne, Dorset. She got them purely out of interest and has never worn them.
Native peoples all around the world use insects for necklaces, nose piercings etc.
Johnny
|
|
|
|
Post by jshuey on Dec 5, 2011 7:05:55 GMT -8
Well in a sense to purists like us, but remember these are now bred in their thousands so not such a waste really. These are probably not bred specimens. The bamboo feeding morphos can be abundant in the right habitat. We were in such a habitat last year, but we were there just a year after all the bamboo had bloomed, died, and of course re-sprouted from seed. This result is a drastic temporary reduction in the Morpho populations for a couple of years. I collected about 20 nice specimens in an hour in a small spot representing two species (primarily M. portis). My host apologized for the “extremely low numbers” of Morpho, saying that in typical years, we would have seen several hundred males along that road. He explained that in normal years you would see long “trains” of 10-20 males chasing each other along the opening the road created in the bamboo thicket. You swing the net and catch about 5 -10 at a time. The most I caught in one swing was three  In southern Brasil, every gift shop is full of “Morpho” handicrafts, ranging from the trays advertized above, colorful framed maps of Brasil made of wings, to single specimens in frames. Looking at these products closely it looks like the specimens are mostly wild collected. It is a common business - and seems to be totally unregulated. These products are everywhere! On the other hand, I was told that females are very rarely collected in the field - we did not see any. Almost all of the female specimens that hit the collector market are reared. Shuey |
|
|
|
Post by anthony on Dec 6, 2011 8:13:06 GMT -8
How ironic that the artist who made the beetle ceiling would have the same name as the great french entomologist
|
|
