I know what I’m hoping for from santa this year!
Hyvin, 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 (keskimääräinen yksilöt mennä noin sata taalaa). 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). Mutta…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!
