MAOLIN BEAUTIES (1)

Over the next few days, I’ll up-loads a variety of photos taken in the Maollin Recreation Area in Taiwan.

Maolin is situated in southeast Kaohsiung County, in an area covered mostly by virgin forest as well as natural features such as waterfalls, gorges, mountain streams, forests teeming with native wildlife, and active hot springs.

Also every winter, about one million Euploeini butterflies glide on purple wings to the holy mountain of the Rukai and Paiwan Tribes in south Taiwan and take shelter in warm valleys at the foot of Dawu Mountain.

This photo was taken in the morning in the “Purple Valley” near the little town of Maolin as the sunrays reached the vegetation. It was an amazing sight!

(f16 1/60sec flash at 1/16th of its power slight crop)

LARGE IS BETTER.

Thank you for stopping by. All comments welcome.

Have a nice evening.

Jean-Noël

Some info about the butterflies:
“Milkweed butterflies are a subfamily, Danainae, in the family Nymphalidae, or brush-footed butterflies. They lay their eggs on various milkweeds on which their larvae (caterpillars) feed. Historically, this group had been considered a separate family, Danaidae, and the tribes placed herein were sometimes considered distinct subfamilies in the Nymphalidae.
There are some 300 species of Danainae worldwide, but only four are found in North America: the Monarch Butterfly (Danaus plexippus); the Queen (Danaus gilippus); the Tropical Milkweed Butterfly (Lycorea cleobaea); and the Soldier Butterfly (or "Tropic Queen"; Danaus eresimus). Most of the Danaini are found in tropical Asia and Africa, while the Ithomiini are diverse in the Neotropics. Tellervini are restricted to Australia and the Oriental region.
The best known member of this family is the Monarch butterfly. The larvae and the butterflies retain poisonous glycosides from their larval host plant, the milkweed, so they become distasteful to potential predators. These milkweed butterflies (Monarch, Queen, Soldier) eat only milkweeds (Asclepias) as larvae. This highly effective defense strategy, shields them against almost all predators that soon learn to avoid these species after attempting to eat them.”
(Wikipedia)

Camera:	Nikon D50 Check out Nikon Nation!
Lens:	Sigma 105mm Macro
Recording media:	JPEG (digital)

Title:	MAOLIN BEAUTIES (1)
Username:	JN_CHATELAIN_PHOTOGRAPHY
Uploaded:	2 Mar 2009 - 7:28 PM
Tags:	Close-up / macro, Wildlife / nature
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