There's no such thing as a blue butterfly

Hi BBC Earth! Here's my video for the #BBCEarthPresenterSearch. I'm an evolutionary biologist finishing my PhD in fruit flies and behaviour at the University of Oxford. I've been making biology and science videos online for 5 years and would love to use the platform of BBC Earth to share my love of the natural world with a broader audience. A few things I couldn't fit into the video: - The only land animal that has managed to make a true blue pigment is the obrina olivewing, but it has more of a blue stripe rather than what I would call a "blue butterfly" :P The turaco and similar birds have also managed to make a true green pigment rather than resorting to the more common method of overlaying yellow pigment and blue structural colour. - You can also pour ethanol on the wing and it will fill up the gaps between the branches and again the butterfly will turn brown. If you grind up the wing with a pestle and mortar, you'll be left with a brown, not blue, dust (and no more butterfly!) - If you have green eyes, it's a mix of the blue structural colour and a small amount of melanin (brown pigment) mixing together to make green. Because structural colour works by manipulating the reflection of light, blue (and green) eyes can appear to change colour in different lighting! - Thank you to the Stratford Butterfly Farm for the Blue Morpho butterfly. It died of natural causes. Me: YouTube: http://youtube.com/shedscience Twitter: http://twitter.com/sallylepage Facebook: http://facebook.com/shedscience Instagram: http://instagram.com/sallylepage Snapchat: sally.lepage Website: http://sallylepage.co.uk Patreon: http://patreon.com/sallylepage