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Butterflies are losing their vibrant colors as deforestation creates more monochrome surroundings

Researcher and photographer Roberto García-Roa is documenting how the colors of butterflies and other species are diminishing in Brazil

“Even planet Earth itself is losing brightness as seen from space,” Ricardo Spaniol from the Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul explained

Deforestation is sucking the color from the Earth’s wildlife.

According to researcher and photographer Roberto García-Roa, the vibrant pigments that butterflies once relied on to attract mates and hide from prey are now fading away as colorful tropical forests are replaced with monochrome infrastructure.

“The colours on a butterfly’s wings are not trivial – they have been designed over millions of yea

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