‘Tis the season for giving

I know what I’m hoping for from santa this year!

Well, not really.  In actuality I don’t collect butterflies, and especially not these giant birdwings.  They are stunning animals, but aside from being huge, they are also expensive (the average specimens go for about a hundred bucks).  The newsworthy part of this story is how much it went for at auction.  Before I tell you the price… this is a rare aberration of a rare butterfly (the forewing is almost a solid green blush, which is freakish).  But…it’s still just a butterfly.

Drumroll please…

At auction in France, this butterfly just fetched a whopping 17,000! After taxes and fees, this specimen probably cost someone around $25,000 dollars.  And the crazy thing is that this isn’t even the most that’s ever been paid for a butterfly.  I can’t find records of any proof, but I wouldn’t be shocked if I heard of a specimen fetching more than $100,000.  Good grief… time to start my Ornithoptera breeding program!

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