European peacock

It is a butterfly from the Brush-footed butterfly family (Nymphalidae), commonly called peacock eye. It lays eggs early in the spring. The caterpillars are black in color, having six rows of barbed spikes and a row of white dots. Adult individuals (imagos) feed on nectar from flowering plants and are also not averse to tree sap or rotten fruit.

It lives almost everywhere. We can find it in lowland areas, gardens, and also mountain meadows. It is resistant to the adverse effects of human activity and their interventions in nature. While such interventions made other animals (including butterflies) suffer, and their population gradually decrease, The European peacock manages to heroically resist these changes. It might be true that if the ´peacock eye´ could speak, it would scold us for enclosing its most beautiful meadows and fields with residential houses and shopping centers. An unmown lawn is, for butterflies, heaven on earth.

Do you know?
The coloring and peacock eyes on the butterfly's wings have not only aesthetic but mainly a protective function. Their task is to scare the enemy. The predator is supposed to perceive it as a much bigger and more dangerous animal. If a European peacock wants to be inconspicuous for a while, it rests with the wings joined so that the pattern is not visible. Like this, it resembles a dry leaf. This tactic also serves as a defense mechanism against the enemy. The intention here is not to scare but to hide.