Exhibits, Shows and Displays

I went to a butterfly exhibit at the natural history museum today. It was super humid inside to replicate the?

replicate the environment of a rainforest. My question is why doesn't the condensation have any effect on their paper thin ( or thinner than paper?) wings? I asked a volunteer who worked there and he acted like a was a moron, he just said' well they are indigenous to the rainforest so the heat and humidity doesn't effect them the same way it does us" okay , but WHY? it would seem it would makes their wings heavy and laden down but it doesn't.

Public Comments

1. The mystery of how butterflies wings stay dry has been solved by new high-resolution images . Butterfly wings are covered in a dense array of microscopic overlapping scales that give them their remarkable colours and also repel water. There are countless air-filled cavities within the scaly surface of the wing. These, carry out cleansing duties across the wing's surface. Any minute droplets of water on the surface ride on a cushion of air and as they roll off they drag with them any clinging dirt particles. This helps maintains the scales' smooth lustre.