Exploring the World on Butterfly Wings

Who doesn’t love to escape the routines of everyday life? Wouldn’t it be great, to once in a while grow wings and fly? I love exploring, to venture out to expand my view on life, freshen my perspective, gain glimpses into other worlds, big or small. Last night, in the insect collection of the ETH I remembered how.

Ways of Adventure

Just like most children, I loved stories of adventurers and explorers. Imagine being out there in the lands far far away: to hike through jungles, stumble across ancient ruins, hunt for secrets and see the wonders of the wide world!

How devastating to learn, that we do no longer have white spots on maps! No more setting sails to undiscovered continents! More allure was lost the moment I got sea sick on a boat in the park. Was I doomed to a henceforth boring existence?

A look at many adults around me seemed to confirm that sad prognosis.

But then I made my personal, mind-blowing discovery: The world is full of wonders everywhere! Just open your eyes and ears, and go looking: surprises can be found in unexpected places!

Looking under the frock of heroes

So, one of my delights here in Zurich are the various public tours offered by the university.

ETH is a world renowned institution and home to many Noble Prize winners. It is housed in grandstanding buildings and holding premium places in many global league tables. That makes it at least to me fascinating but also very intimidating.

However, what is the point of freezing in awe? One can go an have a look?

So, I discovered, that they have a fantastic community outreach program. Every Tuesday night, the general public is led into a truly wide range of topics and institutes.

The world through tiny lenses

Last night, we went to see the insect collection.

Do not fear. It wasn’t boring at all.

In general, most subjects come to live, once you listen to those who feel passionate about it.

Our tour started pretty conventional. What are insects, how big, how small, etc. But what I really understood at the end is, why some people become obsessed and decide to spend their life looking into insects?

The collection houses more than 2 million dead insects. To start with, I gained new appreciation for the skilfulness in the preservation and documentation of the specimen.

We saw photos of a REAL explorer (jealous childhood envy!), sitting in front of his hut in the Amazon rainforest. They have letters and maps showing how he would go to find specimens that were ordered by a rich collector in Winterthur. Can you imagine the many stories that could start with that?

One must love diversity

We saw crazy animals: some so tiny, you could not even believe they weren’t just a speck of dust. Some so big, with eye patterns on their wings to resemble an owl. Others camouflaged with tips of wings that look like a snake head. (see header photo!) We saw specimen of butterflies who had one wing in female and one in male colouring.

We heard of a man who spent decades on collecting butterflies smaller than the nail of your little finger. Which inspired the next guy to take said collection and cut off the reproductive organs of many specimens. Before you judge him: turns out those are the most fool proof way to tell one butterfly type from the next! This all resulted in over 11.000 slides which you today can re-inspect under the microscope.

People spend their lives counting tiny creatures, drawing delicate wings or analysing DNA from thousands of samples. You can see what pollens bees visited in 1873 and how the radiation exposure was on beetles before Chernobyl.

Some big questions can only be answered after all tiny details have been gathered and analysed. So, these findings combined allow us today to give much preciser answers about biodiversity, evolution, and the effects of climate change.

Gratitude

So, I felt gratitude for this treasure trove of insects, for lives spent with passion for six-legged creatures – possibly a fair bit of madness. Isn’t it comforting to know, that hidden in a basement of a grey building, there are people hard a work to deepen our understanding and willing to share their joy?

This reminded me, that many marvels of life are just like insects: ubiquitous. Some are pretty butterflies sitting on flowers. Others are camouflaged on a tree or even annoying us with their buzzing in the dead of night. But we are free to take a closer look and might discover beauty and wonder!

So hear me flutter: Never cease exploring!