Croatia's only tropical butterfly exhibition opens for summer in Pula

Croatia's only tropical butterfly exhibition has reopened at Aquarium Pula, giving visitors the chance to observe tropical butterflies flying freely at close range throughout the summer. The seasonal set-up, titled "Walk with Butterflies", opened on 1 July and will remain open until 1 September.

This year's exhibition introduces butterflies from the Heliconius genus for the first time. Native to Central and South America, as well as parts of North America, these tropical butterflies are renowned for the striking variety of colours and patterns on their wings.

Heliconius butterflies are also commonly known as passionflower butterflies, because their caterpillars feed exclusively on plants from the Passiflora genus. Passionflower plants naturally produce toxic compounds as a defence against herbivores, but Heliconius caterpillars have evolved to feed on them without harm — and store the toxins in their bodies, making the adult butterflies unpalatable to many predators.

The exhibition is currently open only during the summer season. However, Aquarium Pula says that in the future some butterfly species will also be available to see in a planned winter habitat.