Ottawa Butterfly Show, Carleton University

Before flying back to BC early tomorrow morning, I went to a free butterfly show at Carleton University this morning, an event I heard from my landlord last year and wanted to go ever since.  The daily show begins at 9 o'clock, and when I got there after 9:30 today, there was already a long line with parents and kids (I was the only single adult waiting in line).  About 30 minutes later, I was inside the greenhouse and enchanted by the diversity of butterflies.

I think none of the butterflies are native to Canada and are raised purely for shows like this.

Apparently orange is the best thing to attract butterflies and see them up-close.

I am always torn about seeing captive animals who are unable to live in natural habitats like their wild counterparts.

Then there are these sad scenes that most people don't pay attention to.

Instead, the children and their parents are attracted by the colourful and magnificent individuals flying aimlessly inside the greenhouse.

The most exciting butterfly to the visitors was the Common Morpho (Morpho peleides; a.k.a. the big blue one).  Unfortunately this was the only one I could identify right away.

Are those eggs?  Maybe they are fulfilling their biological needs (survive and reproduce) after all.

Sometimes the most important objective for events such as this is to get youngsters interested in nature and hopefully they will appreciate and respect nature when they are older (and DEFINITELY NOT like the people who attended this butterfly show in China).