Penang Butterfly Farm (PBF) was established in 1986 in Penang, Malaysia with 2 main objectives which are to function as a tourist destination and to serve as a centre for education, recreation and scientific research. The visitor to the Penang Butterfly Farm, finding himself surrounded by a myriad of fluttering butterflies within a seemingly natural setting, is likely to think himself in a sort of enchanted wilderness, bejeweled with colorful gems of creation. The best encounter at the Butterfly Farm is undoubtedly the free flying papilions in the enormous enclosure. The exhibition of selected insects and reptiles are also crowd drawers. The visitor, having traversed this complex of displays ends up in a souvenir shop selling butterfly-related paraphernalia.
Today, the Penang Butterfly Farm is the first tropical butterfly farm ever set up in the tropical world, with an average flying population of 4000 Malaysian butterflies of 120 different species, including the rare Indian Leafl (Kallima paralekta) and the endangered Yellow Bird wing (Troides helena). Probably the most famous of Malaysian butterflies is the Rajah Brooke's Bird wing of the Papilionidae family. First discovered in Borneo in 1855 by A. R. Wallace, it was named after the first British Rajah of Sarawak. The visitors can inspect the butterflies at close quarters as they flit around their favorite nectar plants as well as other tropical plants comprising of over 300 varieties.