THE Leopard is a medium-sized butterfly (wingspan about 5cm or two inches) with the improbable scientific name of Phalanta phalantha phalantha. This species abounds where its food plant, the willow tree (Salix tetrasperma), is found. It has a fairly wide range - from Sri Lanka and India to Sundaland and the Lesser Sunda Islands. This butterfly is also found in Madagascar and tropical Africa.
     I first photographed the adult butterfly in my hometown (Kulim, Kedah) in the early 1980s when we had a willow tree planted in the compound of our old family house. Late last year (2000) I noticed the butterfly breeding on two willow trees that a neighbour here in Kuala Lumpur had recently planted just outside his house.
     From these two trees, I collected some caterpillars and bred them out, which is not a difficult job as their food was readily available. But the caterpillars were quite fussy eaters; they preferred to eat only the young leaves from new shoots. They would not eat the mature (or older leaves), and so I had to carefully select branches with fresh young leaves for them.