A female Zebra Heliconian is in her chrysalis. She is nearly ready to emerge. The butterflies surrounding her are male. They know she's female, and they know she will emerge soon.

This is my favorite photo out of all the butterfly pictures I've taken:

They quarrel for a perch on her chrysalis, and they wait and they wait. So did I. For HOURS.

They waited, but one lucky male butterfly did not have to wait for her to emerge; you can see his abdomen going into her chrysalis. The others still haven't given up, but it's too late for them to participate.