What started as a childhood hobby more than six decades ago has led to what could be Africa’s largest butterfly collection in a suburb of Kenya’s capital.
Steve Collins, 74, was born and raised in western Kenya. At the age of 5, he became fascinated by butterflies and began building a collection that has grown to more than 4.2 million specimens, representing hundreds of species.
“My parents encouraged us to look for butterflies after visiting the Congo and some friends gave us a capture net”Collins said. “By the time I was 15, I was already visiting other countries like Nigeria to study more about butterflies.”
During his 20-year career as an agronomist, Collins dedicated his free time to research. Established the African Butterfly Research Institute in 1997.
Now, running out of space and time, he hopes to hand it over to the next generation.
On its 1.5 acres (0.6 hectares) of land, hundreds of indigenous trees and flowering shrubs form a well-woven forest. Hundreds of butterflies dance from flower to flower, sometimes landing on Collins’ hand.
His collection is private, although it was initially open to the public when he managed it as an educational center between 1998 and 2003.
Collins has 1.2 million butterflies from across Africa delicately pinned to frames and stored on rows of shelves, with another 3 million in envelopes.
“They need to be kept in dark spaces,” he explained. “The way of storage also ensures that the dried butterflies are not eaten by other insects, parasites and predators. We also make sure to apply insecticides once a year to keep them safe.”
Julian Bayliss, an African ecologist and visiting professor at Oxford Brookes University, said he has collected butterflies for Collins for two decades.
“There is a large part of that collection that is completely irreplaceable because a large part of Africa’s habitat is being destroyed”Bayliss noted.
Africa is vulnerable to climate change, with periods of prolonged drought and severe flooding destroying forests and other butterfly habitats.
Bayliss suggested digitizing the collection to make it accessible globally.
Whoever takes it “needs to be an institution that is well-founded, well-financed and secure,” he said.
Scott Miller, an entomologist at the Smithsonian Institution, met Collins nearly 30 years ago. He said such collections provide critical information that could show environmental changes over 60 years.
“You can actually go back to these physical specimens to get new layers of information as you learn more or have different technology or have different questions.”he asserted.
Collins is worried that he will soon no longer be able to sustain his research. He added that his most prized butterfly costs $8,000 — which he keeps out of sight, worried about possible theft — and he hopes to sell the collection to an individual or research institution.
The costs of operating your institute are high. An annual budget published in 2009 on the Society of Lepidopterists of Africa website was $200,000.
Collins estimates the specimens and other assets are worth $8 million.
“This has been my hobby for decades, and I can’t put a price on what I’ve done so far. “I am currently seeking to ensure that the species are in safe hands when I am no longer in this world.”he highlighted.