Kenyan Collector Seeks Future Home for Africa's Largest Butterfly Collection

Steve Collins, founder of the African Butterfly Research Institute, aims to preserve his 4.2 million-specimen collection as climate change threatens habitats.

Steve Collins, a 74-year-old Kenyan, has amassed Africa's largest butterfly collection with over 4.2 million specimens representing hundreds of species.
The collection, housed in Nairobi, includes 1.2 million pinned butterflies and 3 million stored in envelopes, requiring careful preservation in dark spaces with annual insecticide treatments.
Collins founded the African Butterfly Research Institute in 1997 but now seeks a secure institution or individual to inherit the collection due to limited space and resources.
Experts emphasize the collection's irreplaceable value, highlighting its potential to provide insights into environmental changes over the past six decades.
Climate change and habitat destruction pose significant threats to Africa's butterfly populations, prompting calls to digitize the collection for global accessibility.