Beautiful Butterfly

Blue morpho butterfly (Morpho peleides) adults are perfectly camouflaged when at rest with their wings closed. The males are very territorial and use their bright blue wings to scare off other males. When threatened they release a strong smell from a gland that opens between their front legs.

The Blue Morpho’s Color isn’t What You’d Expect
While the butterfly has a beautiful blue coloring, it doesn’t actually have any pigment to make it look that way. In fact, the blue morpho uses structural color to get its particular shade of blue.

Blue is actually an extremely rare color in nature. These butterflies have scales that overlap, refracting light similar to a prism. So, when the light hits the wings, it is refracted against the scales and comes off as blue.