In the middle of winter, an event took place in a science city near Moscow that allowed everyone to feel the atmosphere of a tropical summer. For almost a month, visitors to the Pushchino Museum of Ecology and Local Lore could admire live butterflies of various species. Fascinating insects flew in a tent deployed in the central hall of the museum. They could be photographed, however, without a flash, to save the delicate creatures from unnecessary stress. They could even be picked up, but carefully, so as not to break the beauties ' legs, not to damage the colorful wings.

The exhibition consisted of two parts: dry and lively. Collections of dried butterflies and other insects from all over the world were displayed in front of the tent. Some of the exhibits could compete with birds in size. Others, quite tiny, had to be viewed through a magnifying glass. Live specimens represented butterflies from Brazil, China, India, and the Philippines.

All this is the result of a long-term hobby of Andrey Romanenko, one of the leaders of a small company "IP Melnikov", created by an entrepreneur from Tula. An entomologist by profession, Andrey Yevgenyevich brought specimens from numerous expeditions, bought them from other collectors.

Exhibition administrator Valentina Golubeva said that the company started doing this fascinating, albeit difficult, business two and a half years ago. It organizes mobile expositions of butterflies mainly in small towns, where they are particularly popular among residents, since such entertainment and educational events are rare for them.

The butterflies are carefully selected, and the exhibitions feature outwardly spectacular and unpretentious ones that quickly adapt to new conditions. There are no problems with the power supply. Insects are divided into two categories - fruit eaters and flower eaters. For the first ones, pieces of bananas, pineapples, and grapes are laid out in bowls. The latter naturally feed on the nectar of flowers, and at the exhibition they have to be content with sweet water, sometimes honey.

Butterfly pupae are purchased from a specialized farm in the Philippines. During transportation and storage, make sure that the ambient temperature is not lower than five degrees (if less, the pupae die) and not higher than 19, after which the process of turning into a butterfly can already begin. In a special incubator, this process lasts a week.

The variety of butterflies is amazing: there are 720 thousand species! Only 120 thousand belong to the day, the rest to the night. These are usually fruit eaters. They are larger than diurnal ones, they have relatively thick and prickly legs that help them hold on tightly to the tree, fruit. The proboscis is hard and short, so it is easier to break through the fruit. Diurnal butterflies have long legs and proboscis, which makes it easier to get into the flower.

In the Pushchino Museum, visitors could see not only butterflies, but also the process of their "hatching". The pupae hung on a thin string in a small incubator, where a tropical temperature of about 30 degrees and almost one hundred percent humidity was maintained. We gave birth to one of the butterflies. With its folded wings and thick belly, it looked somewhat crumpled. As the blood passed from the abdomen to the wings, they spread out. The newborn was carefully picked up, carried inside a small tent, and placed on the cloth with her wings down to dry. Adult butterflies also undergo "rehabilitation" in this tent. Still, it's not easy to live among constantly scurrying visitors. At some point, some of the fluttering creatures simply fall to the floor from exhaustion. They are immediately transferred to the "isolation ward", where they recover for a while. The rest of us fly around, eat on a table with food, or just relax on some surface.

"What do you do with butterflies when they die?" - what is it?-asked one of the guests of the exhibition.

It turned out to be used as "spare parts" for the repair of exhibits of dry collections, which often suffer seriously during the move.

This is the life of exhibition butterflies.

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