Beautiful haven for insects

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Nothing to fear: Some brave visitors to the Penang Butterfly Farm trying to take a closer look at the Giant Millipede by letting it crawl on their arms.

LEGEND has it that if a butterfly lands on a person, he or she will be blessed with good luck.

While it may be rare to have a butterfly land on you, your chances would be greatly enhanced at the Penang Butterfly Farm where an average 4,000 butterflies float freely.

With 120 butterfly species ranging from one of the most famous Malaysian butterflies — Rajah Brooke’s Bird Wing — to the rare Indian Leaf Butterfly, visitors can marvel at the beautiful insects as they gracefully flap their colourful wings around the huge enclosed farm.

The farm is very much a place where these amazing butterflies call home as they live, breed and die in it.

Visitors can actually witness the life cycle of a butterfly, from the eggs up to the moment they lie on a leaf as they wait for their demise.

Pointing towards a Rajah Brooke’s Bird Wing lying motionless on a leaf, the farm’s nature specialist Edemin P. Ramirez emphasised that visitors could learn more about a butterfly when they observe their life cycle.

Ramirez, who also acts as a tour guide in the farm for visitors, said a fully-grown butterfly could live up to three weeks.

Apart from butterflies, the farm also boasts other attractions like the majestic Alligator Snapping Turtle. Weighing close to 200kg, it is aged between 80 and 120 years and lives on a diet of fish.

Ramirez said the fishes in the aquarium placed in the tank with the snapping turtle were getting smarter as they did not fall for the turtle’s trap that often anymore.

“So we usually feed it with dead fish and thankfully it happily snaps them up,” he said.

The sight of another attraction in the farm — the Giant Millipede — would make the hair on many visitors’ back stand. The creepy crawly has been receiving the shtick it does not deserve, said Ramirez.

“People are usually scared of the giant millipede because of its ugly features and horrendous smell but they actually help fertilise the soil,” he said.

To bring the visitors closer to the butterflies, the farm recently launched a new activity for its visitors — releasing newly-bred butterflies into the farm.

Ramirez said according to a myth, if one whispered their wish to a butterfly and then released them, the butterfly would relay the message to God so that the wish may come true.

“The response to this activity has been very good, especially among the younger ones,” he said.

After touring the outdoor section of the farm, visitors can continue their tour indoor where they have the chance to view exotic insects like spiders and tarantula.

Another interesting insect species at the indoor section is the Human Faced Bug, which depicts a human face when you look at it upside down. The face on some bugs have even looked like legendary rock and roll star Elvis Presley.

American tourist Christian Guerero said he had never encountered such an insect before: “This is the first time I have seen such an amazing insect that has a back which looks almost like a human face.”

Guerero added that one of the memorable moments he experienced in the farm was witnessing a butterfly lay her eggs on a leaf.

In addition, visitors can also view the collections of different butterfly and moth species collected by Penang Butterfly Farm founder David Goh.

The Penang Butterfly Farm in Teluk Bahang is open daily from 9am to 5pm.