Cameron Highlands Butterfly Farm
Trogonoptera brookiana albescens, the Malaysian National "Bird".
In the beginning of September, I was for a few days in the Cameron highlands, which when travelling in Malaysia is a nice thing, especially as temperatures are around 20 degrees or so, when the rest of Malaysia is boiling hot. It seemed to me that Cameron Highlands is one of the few places in Malaysia, where insects are collected regularly and exported. There are some insect dealers in Tanah Rata and as well in Tapah. Tanah Rata is a nice small town in the middle of the Highlands and has some interesting features, such as butterfly farms, tea plantations (BOH, the biggest tea plantation in South East Asia). Strawberry farms (especially funny for us Europeans, as Strawberries here are not that extraordinary, but a huge attraction, when coming to Malaysia, maybe same with mangos in Germany, but the other way round, haha). Anyways, I wanted to write a bit about the Butterfly farm in the Cameron Highlands: It is not as spectacular and big as the Penang butterfly farm, so I was a bit spoilt when I came there, but they had many birdwings flying around, the most amazing of which was Trogonoptera brookiana albescens. This species was named after the first white Rajah of Malaysia, named James Brooke. It is a common saying that the butterflies contain the soul of this white Rajah. The farm also exhibits some other insect species, such as Walking leaves (Phyllium bioculatum), Stick insects and Dead Leave (Deroplatys spp.) and Orchid Mantis (Hymenopus coronatus). All in all, it is worth a visit, especially as the entrance fee is quite cheap. Below this article you can find some pictures that I have taken on the butterfly farm, only butterfly species, but still very interesting and beautiful.
Trogonoptera brookiana albescens male
Trogonoptera brookiana albescens male
Trogonoptera brookiana albescens male
Trogonoptera brookiana albescens female
Trogonoptera brookiana albescens group, wow!!
Troides amphrysus ruficollis male side view
Troides amphrysus ruficollis male
Dichorragia nesimachus deiokes
Dichorragia nesimachus deiokes
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