Owl Butterfly

The most outstanding feature of the owl butterfly is the large, very owlish eye marking on the underside of each wing. In the illustration above, I perched two on the same twig, which looks very owl-like, indeed. But even when you only see one side, it’s easy to think SOMETHING is staring at you. According to some studies, a predator, with a brain considerably smaller and less agile than ours, probably hesitates or shys away, giving the butterfly time to fly off to a safer spot. Since this butterfly is most active at dusk and dawn, poor visibility may also make the eye more frightening to predators.

Since the owl butterfly normally alights and rests with its wings held tightly together above its body, few people ever see the dull cream to purplish to black upper wing surfaces. Additionally, the morpho butterfly is frequently mistaken for an owl butterfly because it has similar eyespots on the undersides of its wings. Mislabeled morpho butterfly photos often show up on internet searches for owl butterflies. Spoiler: the owl butterfly has just ONE HUGE EYE marking, whereas the morpho has seven smaller ones (check out the morpho butterfly in the gallery on this website). More information about the owl butterfly is here. 

The owl butterfly feeds on rotting fruit, sometimes in large groups if the scent of the fruit permeates the air. It also loves to suck the juices from fresh mammal dung, since dung is full of nutrients not found in fruit. Since it’s the largest butterfly in Central and South America, with wingspread of 8″-10,” a happily feeding group of owl butterflies can be quite an eye-opener. On butterfly farms, the owl butterflies sometimes get drunk on the fermenting fruit juices and pass out on the floor, having to be picked up and put in a safe place until they sober up. It seems to me that lying about drunkenly on the forest floor would be a hazard in a tropical jungle….

There’s a seven minute video here documenting an owl butterfly egg hatching, the caterpillar morphing into first the pupa, then into the butterfly. It’s extremely well done.