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A somewhat different farming method uses wild adults, which feed and lay eggs in gardens planted on the edge of existing forest. Because of its free-range aspects, this is also known as butterfly ranching. The advantages include constant genetic variability, and--most importantly--a requirement that the butterflies' native forest habitat be preserved. It's ideal from a conservation point of view because the local ranchers become protectors of the forest as the source of their livelihoods.
Depending on the species and the purpose for which they are being raised, butterflies can be exported live, as pupae, or dead, as top-quality collector specimens. Farming has the best chance of economic success when the species farmed is highly local, since species of limited range are likely to be rarer and thus more valuable. More common butterflies are also collected en masse for decorative uses.
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