I know what I’m hoping for from santa this year!
Well, not really. In actuality I don’t collect butterflies, and especially not these giant birdwings. They are stunning animals, but aside from being huge, they are also expensive (the average specimens go for about a hundred bucks). The newsworthy part of this story is how much it went for at auction. Before I tell you the price… this is a rare aberration of a rare butterfly (the forewing is almost a solid green blush, which is freakish). But…it’s still just a butterfly.
Drumroll please…
At auction in France, this butterfly just fetched a whopping 17,000 €! After taxes and fees, this specimen probably cost someone around $25,000 dollars. And the crazy thing is that this isn’t even the most that’s ever been paid for a butterfly. I can’t find records of any proof, but I wouldn’t be shocked if I heard of a specimen fetching more than $100,000. Good grief… time to start my Ornithoptera breeding program!
