Mindo - Butterfly Farm

Another cool thing in Mindo that we were able to visit was the Mindo Butterfly Farm. It was similar to one that we saw in the Philippines, but larger and with more species. In addition, the farm owners were all about the hands-on experience. They showed us all how to dip our fingers in watermelon or smashed up banana and then pick up the butterflies. This was accomplished by slowly placing the finger under the front of the butterfly and moving it towards the back end of the butterfly. The butterfly would then simply move its legs to climb up on our fingers. Then it would slowly uncurl its extremely long tongue and begin to lick the fruit off our fingers. These butterflies were fat and happy, because they essentially sat there on our fingers, licking away until we go tired and sat them down.

Here you can see the size of the largest species at the farm. They were so tame that even Bentz had success in picking them up. In fact, I think one of them landed on his head looking for the sweet fruit that just had to come out of that mop of yellow.















Here is Grandpa and Jorie, each holding a different variety. Jorie´s bright blue shirt also attracted a few butterflies that alighted on her belly.















Here is Amy with a different specie. When this butterfly opened its wings, the top showed a bright blue striking pattern. If you look close, you can see its tongue reaching out and licking some fruit off of Amy´s finger.















And here is Audrey, with the same big brown butterfly (sorry, forgot the scientific name). There were a bunch of other types, but these big slow ones were the easiest to catch.