By Alejandra Garcia on April 23, 2024
The Quinta de los Molinos Garden is a naturalistic oasis in the heart of Salvador Allende Avenue in Havana, Cuba. The front door leads to another dimension and leaves behind that street through which the noisiest cars in the capital pass. The noise, the asphalt, and the strong smells disappear and a place full of trees, birdsong, flowers, and butterflies opens up. Butterflies, in a city where you can walk from one end to the other without seeing a single one of these winged beauties.
A poster announces that we are at the Butterfly Farm, the only one in Cuba dedicated to protecting these insects and their habitat. Through a protective mesh, you can follow dozens of large and small butterflies fluttering in different directions and living in perfect peace in this place.
The interior of the premises smells of freshly cut grass. The area, considering its use, is relatively small (about 168 square meters) and requires a lot of care. Early in the morning, Osvaldo Rodriguez, Quinta’s gardener, waters and prunes the plants, making sure everything is ready for the public to enter. Every day, during the first hours of sunlight, Osvaldo is always accompanied by Roberto Rodríguez Roque, a biologist and specialist involved in this project since its beginnings. Both are perfect acquaintances of these creatures.
Every morning, Roberto checks, leaf by leaf, the 15 or so host plants, looking for new larvae. “They like to lay their eggs on the orange and passion fruit leaves,” says Roberto Rodriguez, while he carefully passes the small larvae into a glass jar, and butterflies of the most diverse colors and patterns flutter around him and land friendly on his head.
biologist Roberto Rodríguez Roque
“The larvae can’t stay inside the butterfly house. If I’m careless, they kill the host plants,” he says. He refers to those where each species of butterfly lays its eggs while the caterpillars feed on their leaves. Roberto moves them to the breeding room or laboratory. There, they are placed in transparent plastic or glass containers and are provided with leaves or other parts of the plant that serve as food. Here, the first part of the metamorphosis can be observed: from egg to larva, from larva to pupa.
The chrysalis is taken to an exhibition area so that the public can witness its birth. “Today, when I arrived at the lab, two of them had already hatched from the pupa. I found them fluttering around the office. That happens all the time,” he says with a smile.
Although they look like restless little children, butterflies have a feature that helps a lot in their manipulation: they are easily recognizable. There are 200 different species in Cuba, which is not much (there are more than 113,000 species of Lepidoptera – butterflies and moths – in the world). Even so, there are very few specialists researching them. And Roberto is one of them. “It was the fourth time a Cuban institution contacted me to do a butterfly farm. Of all of them, this is the only one not left alone in the attempt.”
The construction of the butterfly farm was a long-standing desire of the Biology Faculty of the University of Havana. After much effort, it was inaugurated in June 2015, in a joint project of the Faculty, the Quinta de los Molinos, and the Office of the Historian of the City. The experience has been more than successful. The Quinta is an oasis and stands now as a small refuge for these colorful insects.
The main purpose of Cuba’s only butterfly farm is to educate people. “We live in a very crazy city, where laws are not strict enough regarding animal care and people are not very conscious about the protection, especially, of insects,” Roberto laments.
The species bred today in the butterfly farm at Quinta de los Molinos are not in danger of extinction and could be a source of income for the country. They have an economic value that is not yet being exploited, unlike much of the world, where the sale of common species generates money. Butterfly farms are like zoos, which serve for entertainment, education, and research, and there are thousands around the world, some of great international renown.
According to the professor, exporting them would not be a major inconvenience. “In butterfly farms in cold countries, native butterflies are not abundant. Therefore, they usually need to buy those little animals. Cuba could benefit economically from this and, at the same time, acquire other species. The state could do much more to promote education and care for butterflies,” Roberto adds.
From that point of view, their potential could also be exploited. The butterfly farm could make folders and stickers to sell to visitors. La Quinta could be not only a small oasis but a mini-industry that would also encourage people to educate themselves about caring for these insects.
Photos: Alejandra Garcia
Source: Resumen Latinoamericano – English