Is this real?

[daveuk]

Came across this photo on line.
Appears to be a large group of B lidderdalii puddling.
I have seen the fake Morphos on a tree trunk photo & am wondering if this is from the same "school"
Have to say all the "big red eyes" in this group should be enough to effectively scare away any predators if this photo is genuine.

[livingplanet3]

I don't see any obvious duplicates. It certainly looks real to me. Unless of course, it's an AI-generated image (which I'm inclined to doubt).

[daveuk]

I don't see any obvious duplicates. It certainly looks real to me. Unless of course, it's an AI-generated image (which I'm inclined to doubt).

I agree. It looks real. Thanks for the additional info.

[adamcotton]

It could be real unlike the photo of Morphos gathered on a tree trunk, the date looks reasonably accurate. The tweet was posted on October 9th, and they said the photo was taken 'last month' which would be September when these do fly and occur in very large numbers.

However, this is B. lidderdalii, which is not 'endemic to China'. I suppose they thought it must be B. thaidina which flies in May.

Adam.

[wollastoni]

Some Bhutanitis gathering have already been pictured in the past in India. Not as impressive as this one though.
It is indeed very impressive and shows that Bhutanitis species are not endangered at all as long as we don't totally destroy their habitat.

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