Out On the Wing #87: The Dangerous World of Butteflies ~ A Review

The Dangerous World of Butterflies: The Startling Subculture of Criminals, Collectors, and Conservationists by Peter Laufer, Ph. D. is an amazing ride through the world of butterfly obsessive people both good and bad and the intentions associated with that obsession.

This books origins are as surprising as the content within as it begins with a chance meeting and comment by the author at a press conference about a recent book he wrote on the Bush war in Iraq. When asked about what his next book would be about, he jokingly replies: "...my next book...is going to be about butterflies and flowers." The response from the audience was predictably panto, but who was to know the journey it would take him on. Soon Laufer would encounter Jane and Jerry (Gerry?) Foulds who ran the Nicaragua-based butterfly preserve called Nicaragua Butterfly Reserva and introduced him to the astounding array of behaviors and colors associated with the native butterflies of this exotic land. As he got acquainted with them, they mentioned other giants in the field of butterfly "worship" such as the author Jefferey Glassberg and his legions of "butterfly huggers", as well as many beloved entomologists. Glassberg in particular struck me as the hardline preservationist holding up ideals about preserving open space for continued diversity and decrying the "misuse" of the wonder that surrounds an appreciation on butterflies. In particular, he decried the business models that profit off of butterflies, dead or alive.

As a naturalist by trade, I was initially alarmed by the way animals can just be ordered and shipped through the post, but after keeping chickens for such a long time and seeing how mail order butterflies from helped to keep butterfly programs running at the Watershed this summer, I've come to realize that it has some value in terms of economic and educational effects. I was intrigued to learn more about Shady Oak Butterfly Farm in Florida as I'd heard of it from coworkers. They deal in eggs, caterpillars, and adults for a wide variety of uses including classroom rearing, butterfly house collection boosting, and for butterfly releases (something Glassberg is vehemently against).

As the book revs up it covers other topics including the current plight of the Monarch (Danaus plexxipus) on both its wintering grounds and throughout the country, the role collectors have played both in the present and past of butterfly study, the prosecution of those illicit collectors, and the fight to save some of the rarer species in the world from being poached (this is covered more extensively in his other book, "Forbidden Creatures"). The chapter entitled "Death-Defying, Globe-Trotting Butterfly Hunting" was one of my favorites. It detailed the events and characters surrounding several high profile cases involving poachers taking butterflies in parks and reserves in other countries, as well as a case involving collectors in the United States. I'm strongly against collecting wildlife in general as I think it promotes the mentality of having it all at potentially any cost, whether it be modern collections of butterflies or the past collections of birds in Victorian homes and scientific institutions. After reading, Laufer makes it out to be the single issue that presents the most dangerous threat to butterfly survival (other than unregulated pesticide use or habitat loss), which makes me leery of the people who profess to be promoting scientific inquiry by continuing to do so.

Overall, the book provides an in depth look into a world that few of us can imagine, where an obsession surrounding this dazzling variety of insects drives some to extreme lengths in order to protect them, and others to try to possess them. It was a fascinating read and I would recommend it to nature lovers, butterfly aficionados, and crime fans alike.