B&I Horizon Sdn. Bhd.

Our Organization

Having opened Penang Butterfly Farm [P.B.F] in 1986 to the public as a tourist- attraction project, B & I Horizon Sdn. Bhd. (previously known as Tropical Entomological House Sdn. Bhd. which on 1^st November 2001 was changed to B & I Horizon Sdn. Bhd. [B&I] while Tropical Entomological House [T.E.H] still remain as a sister company to B&I) continues to play the role as a design and production house for PBF. As for T.E.H, it was set up way back in 1971 and is now under the same group of companies providing technical support to PBF from the aspect of butterfly and insect breeding.

Penang Butterfly Farm

The Penang Butterfly Farm is more than just a tourist attraction. It is set up as a ‘live museum’ to educate the public as well as an internationally respected research centre. Butterflies are beautiful creatures of the wild. Visitors to the Butterfly Farm will find themselves surrounded by a myriad of fluttering butterflies within a seemingly natural setting, is likely to think themselves in a sort of enchanted wilderness, bejeweled with the colorful gems of creation. The main attraction of the Butterfly Farm is undoubtedly the free flying papilions in the enormous enclosure. Visitors can inspect the butterflies at close quarters as they flirt around their favorite nectar plants.

Malay Peninsular has over 1000 recorded butterfly species, among the highest of any country in the world in relation to her small land mass. 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 Leaf (Kallima paralekta) and the endangered Yellow Birdwing (Troides helena). Probably the most famous of Malaysian butterflies is the Rajah Brooke’s Birdwing 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 Butterfly Farm is now a household name in Penang and a “must-see” for visitors since it opened in 1986. The farm located right at the end of the tourist hotel strip at Batu Ferringhi stands on a 0.8 hector site in Teluk Bahang, about 17km from George town. It has become one of the most popular stops on Penang’s round island tour.

Tropical Entomological House

Tropical Entomological House was established in the 1971 by Mr. David Goh. At that time it was known as Tropical Insect Supply, later changed to Tropical Insect House and was finally changed to Tropical Entomological House in early 1980’s. David Goh was an avid butterfly collector since his teenage days and the hobby went on until he joined The Teachers’ Training College. It was during this time that he went one step further into the study of the early stages of the life history of Malaysian butterflies. As a Secondary School teacher, posted to the State of Kedah where he combed most of the fauna-rich jungle paths and waterfalls and further enriched himself with more first-hand knowledge of the habitats and the various newly-discovered hosts of Troides, Atrophaneura, Danaid and Nymphalid species.

Currently T.E.H has trained up more than 15 experience chief butterfly breeders who cover a total of 6 breeding farms that take up total land area of closed to 4 hectares. Our overall breeding programs are strategically planned so that the consistency and continuity of pupae production throughout the year is rarely jeopardized by out-break of diseases. Being blessed with the absence of Typhoon, earthquakes and volcanic eruptions, our reliability and quality of supply has gained world-wide support particularly from major live-butterfly exhibitions, zoos and entomological institutions in U.K., Continental Europe, Canada, U.S.A. and Asia.

B & I Horizon

Besides T.E.H’s effort in conservation, it is B & I’s mission to preserve this nature’s beauty into various unique art forms in order to retain its natural timeless exquisiteness. As one of the pioneers in Nature’s gift art, the sole purpose of B & I is to Design & Manufacture Butterfly and Insect gifts and souvenirs with the highest quality and uniqueness. Since the early 70’s we have been developing the natural beauty of nature’s most beautiful art, the butterfly. Since then, our techniques have been refined and many more ranges of products are being made possible with current up to date new technologies while still preserving the most innocent beauty of nature. On top of that, our ability to produce and commission to produce has reached even museum level. We can proudly say that we are the one stop place for butterfly and insect gifts and souvenirs.

Every piece of these genuine art gifts that you buy from us indirectly also helps many of the native tribes in Malaysia as well as many South East Asian Countries to generate a sustainable income by encouraging the farming and collecting of renewable resources such as insects and butterflies. Otherwise, these natives will have to depend on other form of income which may deplete the existence of our forest. When the forest is gone, so are the insects and the homes for the natives. And the life of our planet will be shortened. Though it was previously thought that butterfly collecting endangered butterfly populations. It was often difficult to impose a set of rules for those who collect for research and those collect for trading. Within our group of organization, we can safely say that we are self sustainable. By that we mean we have the ability in the researching, developing and breeding of butterflies, while exhibiting them for the purpose of appreciation and education and finally preserving and producing them into art form as gifts in order to retain their natural beauty for many decades to come. In short, we as a group can safely declare that we contribute towards nature’s conservation more than we take from it. Within the Malaysian context, it would be safe to say we are a complete centre for portraying nature’s beauty and no other private institution has come this far to be able to encompass all aspects of preserving and conserving our Malaysian natural history.