Paignton Zoo gardens staff are growing wild thyme (Thymus serpyllum) in order to provide a habitat for the large blue butterfly at Slapton Ley National Nature Reserve (owned by the Zoo’s parent body the Whitley Wildlife Conservation Trust). These fascinating butterflies have been declining in the UK and it is hoped that a population can be re-established at Slapton if an appropriate habitat can be created.
Wild thyme flowers provide the initial food source for the caterpillars of these rare butterflies which have an interesting life cycle. The butterflies lay their eggs on the flowers of the thyme. Initially, the caterpillars feed on the flowers, but at a certain point in their development, they trick a certain species of ant into believing that they are ant larvae. The ants carry them off to their nest and nurture the caterpillars as their own. Meanwhile, the caterpillars have become carnivorous and eat the ants’ own larvae. They pupate and then hatch out in the nest and tunnel their way out, emerging from the ground to begin the cycle all over again.
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