A Jordanian man has used dried orchid petals to make a tiny prosthetic wing for an injured butterfly, giving the insect a chance to fly again. The painstaking fix has since gone viral online, highlighting how even modest acts of kindness can have a significant impact on delicate wildlife.
Watch: A man repairs butterfly wings with orchid petals
Morhaf Ghazi, a 30-year-old resident of Amman, found the butterfly while walking in the hills outside the city. One of its wings was badly damaged and the insect could not take off or move properly, so he carefully picked it up and carried it home.
He kept the butterfly in a safe and quiet area for several days, feeding it a weak mixture of sugar and water to keep it alive while he looked for a way to repair the wing.
Instead of leaving it on the ground, Ghazi decided to try building a replacement wing from the dried flower petals he had had for nearly nine years. Over time, he pressed and stored orchid petals, and their thin, flexible texture was close enough to the tissue of a butterfly wing.
After consulting online tutorials on how to handle butterflies safely, he spent about an hour trimming a small piece of petal to match the size and shape of an uninjured wing, then securing it in place with a small amount of mild glue.
As the glue dried, he watched as the butterfly slowly began to move again, testing its balance and strength. The next day he managed to take to the air, land and take off again, showing that the makeshift petal wing allowed him to fly in a way that had not been possible before.
Ghazi told reporters he was surprised by how quickly the butterfly recovered and said he hoped sharing the story would remind people to pay attention to the little creatures and not underestimate what a small act of care can do.
Wildlife and insect experts have long repaired butterfly wings using small pieces of wings cut from dead butterflies, often held in place with a light glue and powder, but Ghazi’s use of dried petals is a more unusual and low-tech approach.
His case has gone viral on social media, where posts of the butterfly are being shared under captions such as “second wing, second chance”, underscoring how even a simple fix can change the outcome of a fragile living creature.
