Ooh, looks like a Giant Swallowtail. Do they have those in Arizona. (Goes to check.) Apparently, you do!
Folks, I posted this on Facebook, but I need to rant for a minute. Thanks for always letting me do so.
I was in the flight cage at MOSI today with a very knowledgeable volunteer and several guests. There was a male Monarch nicely posing so I asked the volunteer if he knew how to tell a male Monarch from female. Despite his vast knowledge, he said he didn't. So I proceeded to tell everyone around how the males have two black dots on their lower wings that are scent glands they use to attract females. The females lack these spots.
Well, as I was in the middle of educating, a little girl kept sticking her hand out right near the Monarch. I didn't want it to fly away when I was in the middle of showing everyone so I said, "Don't get too close to it or you'll scare it and it will fly away." And her mother told me how it was a terrible thing to tell a child that animals would be "scared" of them and that it wasn't a good thing to say about human-animal interactions. I bit my tongue but folks, life is not a Disney movie! The animals don't gather around you when you sing. And we are a freaking SCIENCE museum. It says so right in the name. We are not a petting zoo. Maybe you could teach your child the difference between domesticated and wild animals. I mean, what do you think happens when you go for a walk in the woods? Everything runs from you. If it doesn't run from you, you should probably be scared out of your gourd and assume it's sizing you up or has rabies. Thank goodness I can go hide out in the lab when people are acting that dumb.
