Elegant residents of Turkey’s Tropical Butterfly Garden

Elegant butterflies, which are fed with fruits left by the officials, create colorful images in the Tropical Butterfly Garden, operated by the Selçuklu Municipality in the Central Anatolian province of Konya.

The garden is one of the largest of its kind in Europe in terms of its butterfly flight area.

In addition to its special nutrition system, light, heat and humidity environment, the conditions created with approximately 20,000 plants of 106 species offer a natural habitat for butterflies from tropical countries.

The butterflies in the garden are fed with seasonal fruit cocktails such as watermelon, peach and cherry during the summer period.

Butterflies feed on tubes under their heads, which look like a spiral when closed and resembling a proboscis when opened.

After controlling the food with their sense of taste in their feet, butterflies absorb the liquids of the fruits through these tubes.

The garden is not only a frequent destination for local and foreign tourists in the city but is also a center of attraction for photographers as these butterflies create very nice images while consuming their fruits.

Contrary to popular belief, some butterflies can live for one to two months while some for several seasons.

In the tropical garden, which has an area of 7,600 square meters, including a 3,500 square meter visitors' area in the central Selçuklu district, visitors witness the colorful world of thousands of butterflies.

From Philippines, Kenya and Costa Rica

Speaking to the state-run Anadolu Agency, Duygu Taştan, a biology specialist at the Konya Tropical Butterfly Garden, said that the garden, where tropical butterflies live, was one of...