Vacationers flock to Aruba for its gorgeous beaches and Caribbean waters. A butterfly farm can provide a short break from the hot sun and an interesting look at nature.
The Butterfly Farm, located on the island’s main thoroughfare, J. Irausquin Boulevard, in Orangestad, is home to hundreds of butterflies originally from South America, Southeast Asia, the Philippines, Australia, China, Africa and Malaysia. The butterflies fly past and around visitors or land on their clothing in a meshed enclusre. The farm’s website advises visitors to wear bright-colored clothes and citrus cologne if they want butterflies to land on them.
“Unlike North American exhibitions, you can actually handle our butterflies and caterpillars; our guides will show you how,” the website says.
Lori Cox, the farm’s general manager, says a favorite are “the iridescent, beautiful blue morpho butterflies from the rainforests of South America.”
Blue morpho butterflies, according to the Rainforest Alliance environmental group, are among the largest butterflies in the world with wings spanning five to eight inches. Their wings are bright blue, edged with black. The blue color is caused by microscopic scales on the backs of their wings that reflect light.
Other favorites of Cox at the Butterfly Farm are from Southeast Asia: the “giant” Atlas moth, which is technically not a butterfly, and the tree nymph..
The atlas moth, according to the California Academy of Sciences, is one of the world’s largest moths, based on wing surface area and wingspan. When a bird looks to eat it, the moth’s wings, which can span 10 inches, open and reveal what looks like two heads of a cobra, scaring the bird away.
Tree nymphs, according to London’s Natural History Museum, are known as paper kites, because they intersperse fluttering with gliding. With black veins in white wings that are “almost translucent” and “reminiscent of stained glass,” their appearance is “striking,” the museum says.
At The Butterfly Farm, there are many different life spans for butterflies, Cox says. “Some live for two days, while others can live for many weeks.”
Butterflies taste with their feet, she says. In tropical and subtropical rainforests, some butterflies drink from fruits that drop to the ground. At The Butterfly Farm, trays with peeled oranges are put out. The juice turns to alcohol inside the butterflies, and they fly away intoxicated.
The first butterfly farm in the Caribbean opened in 1994 on St. Martin, which is about 600 miles northeast of Aruba. It was designed and built by “two eccentric Englishmen, William Slayter and John Coward,” according to the Aruba butterfly farm’s website. Slayter opened the Aruba farm with Cox and her husband Tony in 1999.
The St. Martin farm was destroyed by Hurricane Irma in September 2017. It has since been restored and is open daily 10 a.m.-noon and 2 p.m.-5 p.m. but will close on Thursdays May 12-July 4. The cost is 8 Euros for adults and 5 Euros for children.
In Aruba, The Butterfly Farm is more expensive: $19 for adults and $10 for children. It is open daily 8:30 a.m.-4:30p.m., and 20- to 25-minute guided tours are included in the admission price.