Named after a rajah
The naturalist Alfred Russel Wallace named it in 1855 after James Brooke, the Rajah of Sarawak.
The Borneo rainforest · Butterflies and moths
Rajah Brooke's birdwing
Trogonoptera brookiana
A big black butterfly with long, narrow wings, a row of bright green tooth-shaped marks and a red collar.
- Size
- Wingspan 15 to 17cm
- Look for it
- All year round
- Where
- Rainforest in Borneo, Sumatra and the Malay Peninsula, near rivers and hot springs
Sails after you on long wings. Move your pointer and see.
When to look
Rajah Brooke's birdwing
Good to know
Six things about the rajah Brooke's birdwing
Malaysia's national butterfly
It is the national butterfly of Malaysia.
Crowds at the water's edge
Males gather by the dozen on wet river banks and at hot springs to drink mineral-rich water.
Females stay up high
The browner females keep to the treetops and are rarely seen.
Green from light
The green is not pigment. It is made by the fine structure of the wing scales.
Protected
It is protected, and trade in it is controlled by international law.
The real thing
Photos of the rajah Brooke's birdwing
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Photos are from Wikimedia Commons, used under the free licences shown. They have been resized, and cropped where they appear in link previews.
How to spot one
Visit a sunny river bank or a muddy seep in the forest in the morning. The males sit with wings half open, all facing the same way. Take an adult with you.
How to help
The rainforest and its clean streams are what it needs. Where the forest is logged, the crowds on the river banks disappear.
Keep going
More from The Borneo rainforest
‹ Atlas mothBack to The Borneo rainforestA to ZOrchid mantis ›