Photographing Mating Butterflies

No Flash Photography Please

In the Tent of a Thousand Butterflies…

Visitor: Butterflies eat fruit?

Custodian: These ones do.

Visitor: It’s a big butterfly.

Custodian: Actually it’s two. They’re mating.

Visitor: Oh. Would it be an invasion of their privacy if I took a photo?

Custodian: It’d be polite to ask their permission.

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Voice-over

Notable for its informative content, this conversation is typical of a visitor/custodian exchange.

It also highlights an interesting moral distinction between photographing animals and photographing humans in private contexts.

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