The Pilpintuwasi Butterfly Farm and the Amazon Animal Orphanage

<h1>The Pilpintuwasi Butterfly Farm and the Amazon Animal Orphanage</h1>

<p align=right>by Angela Thompson</p>

<div align=justify>Few travelers get the chance to see stealthy jaguars, solitary anteaters, rare red uakari monkeys and over 42 species of butterfly in the jungle, but at the Amazon Animal Orphanage and Pilpintuwasi Butterfly Farm, you can visit and interact with the wildlife and see the fragile insects in all stages of life.

Located in the Amazon jungle, just outside the city of Iquitos in Peru, the animal orphanage and butterfly farm are separate projects that share the same home on a forest farm on the Nanay River.

Pilpintuwasi, which means “the home of the butterflies”, is the only butterfly farm in Peru and contains and breeds various species of butterflies.

The farm is set up so that visitors are able to see the life cycle of the butterflies and learn about their development; you will be shown each stage of metamorphosis, from caterpillar through the complete cycle to butterfly. During a short walk through their enclosed environment you will see butterflies fluttering around a lush, plant-filled garden. 
Each plant is selected according to the needs of the insects; each species of caterpillar and butterfly feeds on only one or two kinds of plants. The caterpillars and the plants they eat are collected from the forests surrounding the farm.

If you have a keen eye you might spot tiny eggs the size of pin pricks on the underside of leaves: after mating, the females lay their eggs on particular plants, which are referred to as "host plants." The larva will start to eat these plants immediately after hatching in order to grow.

Depending on the species, it takes between two and ten weeks to become fully-grown. During this time, the caterpillar sheds its skin four to six times. After making a cocoon and emerging from it, the adult butterfly starts to move its wings up and down in order to pump blood and air into them. When the wings are fully expanded, the butterfly is able to fly and the cycle starts again. The life span of the butterfly is completed in less than two weeks.

All of the butterfly cocoons and eggs are stored in a small pavilion. As a security measure against parasites, eggs and cocoons are collected from the leaves and branches of the garden on a daily basis, and stored in a smaller room where they are disinfected with a light chlorine solution and dampened periodically to simulate the rains that would moisten them if they were on a leaf in the forest. Some insects, such as flies and mosquitoes, lay eggs inside the butterfly eggs or inside the caterpillars; because of this the cocoons and eggs are monitored in a separate room, so the flies that sometimes emerge from a cocoon won’t enter the butterfly farm.

Forty-two species of these most colorful (and least dangerous) insects of the Amazon thrive at Pilpintuwasi. Visitors learn about the challenges involved in finding a host plant for each caterpillar, the life cycle of butterflies, problems with predators, etc.

At Pilpintuwasi, you will be able to see the Giant Blue Morphos, Helicons, Owl Moths, and Swallowtails as well as some poison-haired caterpillars. The caterpillar of the brilliantly colored Blue Morpho pokes out two horn-like prongs from its head if it feels threatened. The Buho, so called for the large, dark spots on its impressive wings that resemble owl’s eyes, is one of the few aggressors on the farm. They pull at each other’s wings with barbed feet to defend their piece of fruit, and consequently, most have torn wings.

Gudrun Sperrer and her partner Roblar Moreno, who are passionate about their work and educating others about Amazonian flora and fauna, are the proprietors of this charming farm.

Gudrun came to Peru 22 years ago from Austria. She had completed her studies as a social worker, and settled down in the Peruvian jungle, in a remote village, to teach. It was well known that she was an animal-lover and the kids of the village used to bring her orphaned, abandoned or hurt wild animals to care for. She would look after them and help them to recover before setting them free in the jungle once more.

The idea to start a butterfly farm came to her to her during a holiday she was spending in Austria, when she was visiting a zoo and saw the butterfly section. Since she loved butterflies, she decided to build a sanctuary with the purpose of showing people the life process of butterflies. She started looking for caterpillars and breeding butterflies in 1995.

Almost immediately after she had finished constructing her house and had started the butterfly farm on a recently purchased piece of land, it became a shelter for many endangered jungle animals; the routine of delivering sick animals to Gudrun had resumed almost immediately. Veterinarians that could not host wounded or sick animals called her for assistance. She also received orphans whose mothers had been killed by hunters, and animals sold to people who could not properly take care of them. So many animals were dumped or donated to her that she, together with Roblar Moreno, decided to create an Orphanage. It is a great place to get a close-up look at animals, and an opportunity to help endangered, uncommon and fragile animals. The organization became an Official Rescue Center for endangered animals in the summer of 2004 and now the farm is home to some 20 animals, including:

•	Rosa the Giant Anteater, who is an orphan and belongs to an endangered species. Another younger anteater also lives at the Orphanage. They were both brought in by students. Rosa had been living in captivity and the student was concerned that the animal was not getting sufficient care. 
•	Chavo is a red-faced Huacary monkey, an endangered species that exists only in the flooded Amazon region. When he arrived at the Orphanage, he was skin and bones and had a broken foot due to a fall suffered when his mother was killed. Chavo has recovered well, and is now "King" of the Orphanage.
•	Zeke and Florian are black Huacary monkeys that were given to the Orphanage - one by a neighbor, the other by a veterinarian. Zeke, the female, was dehydrated and had a severe infection. Florian weighed only 230 grams and was equally ill.
•	Lolita, the tapir's mother was killed, and the people who killed the mother tried raising the tapir baby. To keep her from escaping, they tied her feet with nylon fishing line, which cut into her feet and legs. The owners brought Lolita to the Orphanage to raise.
•	Pedro Bello is a magnificent jaguar that a man bought from local people with the idea of selling it in Iquitos. He tried to do so for a month (without taking care of or feeding the poor animal), and then left him in Pilpintuwasi
•	Tony, the capuchin monkey, used to live with street children. A tourist happened to see him in his weakened condition, when he was so ill that he was almost unable to hang on to a little boy’s neck. The tourist gave the children some money and brought the animal to Pilpintuwasi. The little monkey had 3 different kinds of parasites, but is now healthy and developing well. A curious thing about Tony is that he seems to have been trained to steal: when people with earrings arrive at Pilpintuwasi, Tony climbs onto their shoulders immediately and takes their earrings!

Gudrun set all this up out of her pure love for animals and nature. What is most important to her is to educate local people to understand the importance of preserving their natural habitat. She teaches about wildlife, their natural habitat, and how to respect and preserve it in schools, kindergartens and universities.

“It is really inspiring to see how…they…manage all this, and how happy the animals are with them,’’ commented one impressed person.

Maintaining a project like Pilpintuwasi is not easy. Funding is scarce, and the need is enormous. Gudrun and Roble cannot afford to employ many people to help them in management of the orphanage, so they do most of what’s needed by themselves. From time to time they take volunteers in, but it doesn’t always work out smoothly. Volunteers need to be trained, and many of them cannot resist the heat and the harsh conditions of the jungle.
 
They are in serious need of funding to help support the animals, particularly Pedro Bello who eats 3-4 kg of meat everyday. For Pilpintuwasi, feeding this Jaguar costs $250-300 dollars a month, which Gudrun covers with her salary teaching at the University of Iquitos (UNAP). If somebody helped to finance Pedro's food, Pilpintuwasi would be able to rescue and maintain quite a few more animals, which now have to be rejected because of the lack of financial support. The government leaves confiscated animals at the farm, but it doesn't provide any money for food, cages or veterinary care. If you want to adopt the jaguar (you’ll get a plaque with your name on Pedro’s cage) or make a donation to this worthy project, please go to www.amazonanimalorphanage.org

Kuoda Tours brings visitors to the Pilpintuwasi Butterfly Farm and the Amazon Animal Orphanage, as well as to other places in the jungle regions of Peru. We also go to Machu Picchu, and to the other regions of this spectacular country. Please visit us at http://www.inturkuoda.com</div>

<p align=center>Article source: <a href="http://www.ArticlePros.com/travel_and_leisure/South-American-Destinations/article-77556.html">ArticlePros.com</a></p>
 
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		<p align=center><b>About the author</b></p>
		<p align=justify>Born in the US, Angela Thompson has lived and studied in Peru for 3 years. After graduating from high school in Cusco she received an internship in Kuoda Tours and is learning all about the basics of tourism there.</p>
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