Bob Marley and the Butterflies
by Deborah Senior, youth journalist, Youth Action Network
Largest in the Western hemisphere, is not only the world renowned
Reggae singer Bob Marley. No, he shares the spotlight with the
Jamaican butterfly, Papillio humerus . This
butterfly has a wing span of 8.5 inches as recorded by Eric
Garraway of the University of the West Indies, Mona campus.
Unfortunately, this beauty also graces the pages of the IUCN's Red
List. Critically endangered in part due to its fussy habits, it
thrives on one particular type of plant for its food source. In
addition to this, matting usually occurs in wooden valleys. Due to
the cutting down of trees, the butterflies do not reproduce as
quickly. And like most of us, nobody wants to mate out in the
open. What cannot be over looked according to David Smith,
Executive Director, Jamaican Conservation and Development Trust,
is that poaching quotes for these birds begin upwards of $100,000
U.S.