17 SEPTEMBER 2026 (Calgary, AB) – Under a leaf of a single potted lupine, hidden from view, something was changing. For three weeks, nothing about the plant looked different. Then, in early July, a butterfly emerged: the first curiously isolated hairstreak (Satyrium curiosolus) ever to complete its life cycle from egg to adult under human care.
The Wilder Institute, working with Parks Canada and other partners, successfully raised the critically endangered butterfly from egg, to larvae, to butterfly for the first time.
“This is an exciting milestone for our team and for the species,” said Dr. James Glasier, Conservation Population Ecologist at the Wilder Institute. “It gives us information we’ve never had before, and for a species this specialized and this isolated, that knowledge is critical to shaping how we approach our work.”
A Species Hidden in Plain Sight for 40,000 Years
Found only along the windswept Blakiston Fan in Waterton Lakes National Park, Alberta, this small, silver-tinged butterfly was long believed to be a population of the widespread half-moon hairstreak. Genetic testing revealed a bigger story: this population had been isolated, ecologically and genetically, for roughly 40,000 years, making it its own species.
That isolation makes it particularly vulnerable. It depends entirely on one host plant, the silvery lupine, and has a mutually beneficial relationship with a single ant species, Lasius ponderosae. Adults live just six to 16 days, feeding on wildflowers and searching for mates. With its entire population confined to one small area and no fallback population, a single wildfire, drought, or invasive weed outbreak could push the species closer to extinction.
Watching a New Life Stage Unfold
In the fall of 2025, wild hairstreak eggs and their host plants were transported to the Wilder Institute’s Calgary Zoo, where they spent the winter in a climate-controlled environment designed to mirror natural cold conditions. In spring, the Horticulture and Conservation & Science teams brought the lupines and eggs out of dormancy. About 36 hours later, larvae hatched, just 1 to 2mm long, small enough to disappear into the leaves of the lupines.
As the larvae grew, the Animal Care, Health & Welfare, Conservation & Science, and Horticulture teams monitored their development day by day, documenting their growth and the conditions that helped them thrive. Some went on to pupate, settling out of sight for weeks at a time.
One male tucked himself away in the same lupine pot where he’d fed as a larva. For approximately three weeks, there was little to see. Then, one day in early July, the waiting was over. He emerged as an adult butterfly, the first curiously isolated hairstreak to complete that transformation under human care.
The Horticulture team ensured he had access to nectar until he was transported back to Waterton Lakes National Park a few days later. There he joined wild-caught female butterflies in a temporary enclosure designed to encourage mating and egg-laying. At least eight eggs, along with their host plants, have since been collected and brought back to the Wilder Institute’s Calgary Zoo for overwintering. The next generation is now giving the team a chance to apply and refine what they learned from the first successful life cycle.
Looking Ahead
The exciting milestone provides new information that could help determine whether a population of curiously isolated hairstreaks, and potentially a conservation breeding program, could be established under human care, creating a potential safeguard for a species found in only one small area of Alberta.
With new eggs now under the Wilder Institute’s care, the cycle begins again: egg, larvae, butterfly. For a species with no fallback population, what began with one tiny egg could help provide the knowledge needed to build one.
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For more information contact:
Cindy Antonello
Senior Manager, Communications 403.232.7766 | 403.919.9482 | mediarelations@wilderinstitute.org
About the Wilder Institute
The Wilder Institute is a global conservation charity working to create a future where people and wildlife thrive, together. We operate the Calgary Zoo, one of Canada’s most visited zoological institutions, and bring together conservation action, animal wellbeing, species recovery, research and public engagement within one connected organization focused on wildlife conservation.
From the Wilder Institute’s Calgary Zoo to the Archibald Biodiversity Centre, Canada’s largest conservation breeding facility, and applied conservation programs in Canada and around the world—including conservation work in regions such as Ghana and initiatives such as the Centre for Species Survival (CSS) Human Dimensions and the Wilder Canada Action Plan—every part of our work contributes to a shared purpose: we act for wildlife; saving species and inspiring people to join us.
We work in partnership with Indigenous Peoples, communities, governments, researchers and other conservation organizations to restore wildlife populations and ecosystems, share knowledge and
capacity with people across society to grow our conservation family, and scale solutions that support biodiversity across our country and others. By connecting animal care, applied conservation, and public engagement, we help turn knowledge into action and action into lasting impact for wildlife, ecosystems, and the communities connected to them. Learn more at WilderInstitute.org and CalgaryZoo.com.