Music Competition Butterflies

Posted on September 21, 2014 by jjneal

Butterfly lands on Yukie Ota during the 2014 International Flute Competition in Denmark
Screen shot from NPR.org

Musicians competing in contests may get butterflies in their stomach. At the Carl Nielson 2014 International Flute Competition in Denmark, one contestant got a butterfly visit to her forehead. Yukie Ota showed her powers of concentration, continuing to perform & refusing to be distracted. She advanced to the finals in spite of the butterfly (although she did not win the finals). A video of the butterfly event posted to YouTube received over one million hits (perhaps by butterfly enthusiasts?). Entomologists, asked to explain the butterfly behavior noted that the butterfly was extending its proboscis, presumably to imbibe sodium from the moist skin.

About jjneal

Jonathan Neal is a retired Associate Professor of Entomology at Purdue University and author of the textbook, Living With Insects (2010). This blog is a forum to communicate about the intersection of insects with people and policy. This is a personal blog. The opinions and materials posted here are those of the author and are in no way connected with those of my employer.

View all posts by jjneal →

This entry was posted in Art, by jjneal, Music, News. Bookmark the permalink.

2 Responses to Music Competition Butterflies

Sarah Longes - Mirador Design says:

September 21, 2014 at 8:08 pm

How wonderful! Yes, butterflies can be drawn to sweat and also to body warmth 🙂 I shall now go and watch the YouTube clip!

Reply
anastaciast says:

September 21, 2014 at 10:59 pm

Me, too! I’m headed to YouTube. What a fun photo. TFS

Reply