These balancing butterflies are a modern reproduction of a toy that was popular over 100 years ago. The cardboard butterflies have beautiful designs printed on them, and on the underside of the wings are little metal weights, that allow their balancing trick.
The butterflies will balance anywhere indoors, you simply place their head on a solid object, and then whole body then stays suspended in the air, moving gently as the air around them moves. It seems impossible that they can balance like this, but the weights underneath the wings bring the centre of gravity forwards.
I think they would only work indoors, the breeze outside would be too strong.
Produced by Franz-Joseph Holler of Munich in Germany. He specialises in creating modern reproductions of antique toys.
