Tucked quietly off of Pleasant Hill Road, hugging the west shore of Lake Toho, is Butterfly Dan’s working butterfly “farm.” Butterfly Dan is Dan Dunwoody, a Miami native who has been raising butterflies in Central Florida since the 1980s.
For those of us who forgot our Biology 101 lessons from school, the life cycle of a butterfly starts as an egg laid on the leaf of a particular plant, according to species. When the egg hatches, a caterpillar emerges and begins munching on the leaves of its nursery plant. Soon, the caterpillar morphs into a cocooned chrysalis from which a butterfly eventually emerges, only to live long enough to propagate the eggs needed to produce the next generation.
“I got hooked on butterflies when I was given a Monarch butterfly caterpillar to nurture into a butterfly for an elementary school project,” said Dunwoody.
Working as a chef at Disney, he began raising butterflies part-time. In 1988, the classic Florida attraction Cypress Gardens (now Legoland) opened The Butterfly House, and Dunwoody got the nod to provide a continuous supply of butterflies. He purchased the current site of Butterfly Dan’s to raise the plants needed to breed butterflies and expanded when he later began supplying butterflies to an exhibit in Fort Lauderdale. Today, the facility ships out thousands of butterflies each week, in their chrysalis form.
Weather is a major factor in the process, and hurricanes and drought can be major disruptions, but the area’s infrequent freezes can have the most negative impact.
“This recent freeze was the worst in many years; we lost a lot of our plants needed for the butterflies,” said Dunwoody.
Butterflies are the second most important insect plant pollinator behind bees, and individuals can help increase the butterfly population by simply planting flowers in “butterfly gardens” that attract butterflies.
Butterfly Dan’s offers self-guided and guided tours. For more information on booking a tour at Butterfly Dan’s, see https://bit.ly/4uw3cFQ.
