Butterflies brighten our lives with their myriad of colours. However, many butterfly species worldwide are dramatically decreasing in numbers. This is due to the fact that their food plants have either been cleared from the land for development, or by bushfire, or have died from climate changes such as severe drought.

Community groups now conduct educational workshops, and volunteers are busy growing the food plants for regeneration of native habitats, parks and reserves. People are also encouraged to plant the specific food plants for the caterpillars, plus nectar plants for the butterflies in their home gardens. One particular group in Australia is doing an excellent job of bringing back the 'Richmond' Birdwing butterfly, Ornithoptera richmondia, to its former territory in South-East Queensland and Northern New South Wales.

Each butterfly has its own specific food plant on which the female lays her eggs, and upon which the caterpillars or larvae feed. Then they undergo a metamorphosis, during which they are transformed to a chrysalis and finally the beautiful and often iridescent butterflies emerge. Unfortunately many people do not associate the food plants and caterpillars with the butterflies at all. Therefore in order to conserve them, it is extremely important to educate people about the butterfly lifecycle.

For more detailed information on worldwide butterfly conservation please refer to the links page.

"In the end, we will conserve only what we love, We will love only what we understand, And we will understand only what we are taught." - African Ecologist, Baba Dioum