 "Screengrab from the video")
What walking is to humans, flying is to butterflies, and one such butterfly injured its wing, the powerhouse of what makes it part of its species. But it won back its spark after the world’s first wing transplant was conducted on him at a wildlife rehabilitation centre.
The endangered insect was recently taken to the Sweetbriar Nature Center in Smithtown, New York, with a bent wing that had partially broken off. According to Janine Bendicksen, Sweetbriar’s Director of Wildlife Rehabilitation, the insect likely emerged from its chrysalis with the wing already deformed.
She said that the broken wing would have made flying impossible for the monarch butterfly, as having one broken wing throws off the symmetry necessary for flying. “He would’ve died, 100%,” Sweetbriar told Fox News.
While butterfly wing transplants are often discussed within the butterfly rehabilitation community, successfully carrying one out is another matter, says Bendicksen. The first challenge was finding a suitable wing donor. She searched the Sweetbriar vivarium and eventually found a deceased monarch butterfly with its wings still intact.
“There are all kinds of YouTube videos on how to do it. “Nobody knew, though – this is the first time anybody figured it out,” she said. The butterfly was anesthetize, not because it would be in pain or bleed (butterflies do not have blood flowing through them), but to make it still through the procedure. The insect was put in a refrigerator for a few minutes to settle it down.
Footage of the five-minute procedure shows Bendicksen trimming the damaged portion of the butterfly’s bent wing, taking care to leave the wing’s base fully attached to the body. She then precisely aligns the black veins of the injured wing with those of the donor wing to maintain symmetry. Using contact cement, an adhesive commonly used by artists, she secures the donor wing in place, finishing the process by sprinkling corn starch to help set the glue.