[shoobiedoo]

I'll never forget my first week working housing demolition in the Japanese countryside a few years ago. We were outside tearing down an old house, when I saw what I thought were bats. In broad daylight. But they were moving slowly... and I could see their wings beating. Holy crap, those are butterflies. Huge, stunningly beautiful, butterflies. And not just one or two, but many of them. When I was able to get a bit closer, they had dark purple lines and swirls, so not completely black. Housing demolition was a brutal job for many reasons but seeing that kind of thing made it more than worth it.

[gorgonian]

I visited the rainforest in Brazil (Iguazú Falls / Foz do Iguaçu) a few years ago and saw literally dozens of species of butterflies of every size and color. It was truly incredible. Not to mention the falls themselves and the rest of the flora and fauna. The rainforest is amazing!

[culi]

Take a piss somewhere and wait 10 minutes. It'll be swarmed with butterflies who want the minerals you've laid out for them.

The Amazonian soil is actually extremely poor because of how much water runs through its soil. It's one of the reasons such biodiversity evolved in the first place. Poor soils favor a diversity of strategies while rich soils tend to form monocultures that quickly dominate

(Ofc terra preta, amongst other indigenous technologies, have also radically shaped the soil and its fertility)

[contingencies]

Used to be like that between Myanmar and Laos when descending the Mekong from China to Thailand. These days you'd be lucky to see one: development on both sides, particularly clear-felling for rubber (the price of which has now crashed), has totally destroyed the biodiversity.

[julianeon]

This was common in America once. Around the 1900's, in "wild" places like Texas, you'll see references to clouds of butterflies, in memoirs and such.

[ProllyInfamous]

>references to clouds of butterflies, in memoirs and such.

I grew up in Texas and definitely remember smaller clusterings – but nothing like my experience at the butterfly exhibit on the top of Chattanooga's Aquarium (tens of thousands in only a few thousand squarefeet).

The definition of mesmerizing, all that flutteringby.

[YZF]

As were: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Passenger_pigeon