FRESH FROM completing her degree in marine biology and chemistry Audette Bailey was offered a job with a butterfly project. And she duly fell in love. That was in 1990. Today, armed with a PhD from the University of the West Indies, Dr. Audette Bailey is still involved with butterflies she studies them, conducts experiments on them in their habitat and writes about them.
As a research fellow at the University of the West Indies Dr. Bailey is currently focused on assisting in the establishment of a local butterfly industry. Her work takes her into the intimidating cockpit country. She has been conducting rearing experiments to identify attractive, robust and fast-developing species of butterflies that can be grown for commercial purposes.
Information on butterflies was not easy to come by, so she converted her thesis into a popular book, which she co-wrote with Eric Garraway, called Butterflies of Jamaica.
As president of the Natural History Society of Jamaica, Dr. Bailey says she has been able to get her colleagues to think outside of the box. As she tries to raise awareness about the beauty of nature she has used the Children?s Own newspaper as the vehicle to take the message to the youth.
Dr. Bailey's professional career includes stints as teacher/lecturer at the secondary and tertiary levels, Assistant Curator Hope Zoo and Branch Chief, National Parks.
