Owl butterfly

These are large, rather fancy butterflies, and I like its striped eyes - but not so much its furry body. Taken on 2 May 2011 in the ENMAX Conservatory at the Calgary Zoo. The tropical butterfly season at the Zoo must be just about over by now. The staff and volunteers do such a superb job of putting on a great display of tropical plants and butterflies for us over the summer. I know that I, for one, appreciate this so much - a wonderful chance to see and photograph things I would otherwise never see. Unfortunately, I haven't made it over there this year!

"Butterflies in the genus Caligo are commonly called owl butterflies, after their huge eyespots, which resemble owls' eyes. Owl butterflies are found in the rainforests and secondary forests of Mexico, Central, and South America.

Owl butterflies are very large, 65–200 mm (2.6–7.9 in), and fly only a few metres at a time, so avian predators have little difficulty in following them to their settling place. However, the butterflies preferentially fly in dusk, when few avian predators are around. The Latin name may possibly refer to their active periods. Caligo means darkness." From Wikipedia.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Owl_butterfly