In ancient civilizations, butterflies were seen as a symbol of the soul that reached enlightenment, so in Ancient Greece the butterfly was called Psyche. In the surviving images, the goddess Psyche flutters on her wings like a butterfly. Legends about butterflies are full of legends of all peoples of the earth. And everywhere it is associated with souls - both among Catholics, Buddhists, and among the inhabitants of New Zealand or Zaire. The ancient Slavs, when they saw a day butterfly, not only admired its beauty, but welcomed in it someone's pure dead soul. In night butterflies they saw the souls of the suffering dead. In this regard, the peacock butterfly can be considered with particular interest.
First of all, this butterfly will not leave anyone indifferent due to its beauty. On its wings, spots are clearly visible, reminiscent of patterns of bright plumage of a peacock's tail. This colorful, iridescent decoration is also a secret weapon that keeps her alive. The main enemy of these beauties is birds. As soon as the peacock butterfly enters the field of view of this winged predator, it opens its wings, and the bird, seeing such a beautiful and brilliant spot on the wings, for a whilefreezes. Maybe she's scared, maybe she's surprised. This is enough for the butterfly to flutter and fly away from a dangerous enemy.
In our places there are different types of these butterflies in the forests and swamps, among the thickets of heather and nettles. Usually their wingspan reaches three and a half centimeters, but the Viennese or night butterflies of this species, which are also found with us, differ in that they have a wingspan of thirteen to fifteen centimeters. One of the largest butterflies of this genus is the diurnal peacock butterfly or the Indian peacock eye. Its wingspan reaches twenty-five centimeters. During the flight, inexperienced people mistake this harmless creature for a bird and sometimes even get scared.
The peacock-eye butterfly, just like all other butterflies, coming out of hibernation, arranges nests with eggs in the thickets of nettles or fragrant hops, on apple or ash leaves, from which a family of voracious black caterpillars with thorns appears and embellishments of white dots and lines. Having emerged from the eggs, the caterpillars very quickly crawl onto the most tender shoots of plants and begin to eat them.
Unusual coloration and a bright "peacock" spot do not allow this butterfly to be confused with any other, but this is not the only feature of the beauty. The color of the wings and the brightness of the color depend on the temperature conditions under which the pupa was formed. Peacock eye is a butterfly that adapts very well to
habitat. For example, her chrysalis takes on a color exactly like the color of the object it is on.
For wintering, the peacock butterfly chooses attics of buildings or hollow trees, mountain caves or basements of houses. After wintering from late June to mid-July, butterflies flutter and mate in order to lay eggs. And already in August, a new young generation appears.
