The 88 Butterfly – Nature’s Living Number

If you asked me what I associate with the number 88, my first response would be “wasn’t the Crazy 88 the name of a Japanese gang in Kill Bill Volume Whatever?”.  If I was musical, I could have added that the standard piano has 88 keys.  If I was more aware of other cultures, I could have concluded that in Mandarin, the number 8 (八, bā) sounds similar to 发 (fā), meaning prosper or wealth.  What I would not have said is that it’s a butterfly, found in Middle and South America. But it is.  There is a picture right above this gabbling.  As my grandmother might have said - well, knock me down with a feather. Our sibling site, the Ark In Space, has an article on this most remarkable of butterflies, with a great gallery of pictures to accompany it. 

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