Right from wandering over the lushing grasses to stickers on a kid’s notebook, butterflies look pretty in every possible way. These creatures are almost everyone’s favorite and, who wouldn’t love those unique wings with some truly captivating color combinations?
15 Great Facts about Butterflies
1. Butter + Fly = Butterfly
The reason behind them being called butterflies is in the literal senses. The “fly” comes from the reason that they can fly. For “butter”, there are some varied opinions like the butter like color of most of their wings. The olden beliefs suggest that they steal butter, the color of their excrement.
2. Kaleidoscope is a Group of Butterflies
The technical word for a group of butterflies is kaleidoscope. The reason behind which is their changing colors and patterns which seems similar to that of a kaleidoscope. They are also called flutter, swarm, rabble, flight and wing too.
3. 6 Legs in Total
The different sets of legs have different functions assigned. The job assigned to the first pair of legs is using the receptors to taste and smell. Whereas the second pair has receptors too that help them to find food, identify places to lay eggs and walk. The third pair is kept for walking only.
4. 4 Wings in Total
Even though it looks like the butterflies have two wings, they actually have four wings altogether. The wings are divided as fore-wings and the other two into hind-wings.
5. Short Lifespan
Their average lifespan is typically a month. But depending on the size, type and climate, their lifespan can be longer or shorter. Its living period also depends on the predators. It’s just a week for some butterflies, while the others can live for about nine months.
6. External Skeleton
Like most insects, the butterflies have an exoskeleton. Their soft flesh is on the inside, while a skeleton protects it from the outside. This skeleton is over their head, abdomen, thorax and wings.
7. Lays about 100 Eggs at Once
A female butterfly has the capacity to lay around 1-100 eggs at once, and she can do so for days. After laying all her eggs, the butterfly dies. The father later dies after 6-8 weeks of mating.
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8. Tastes with Their Feet
Their taste receptors are located in their feet which enables them to look for food. A female butterfly goes on various plants, drumming with their legs until the plant releases its juices. When she finds the correct plant, she lays her eggs on that one.
9. All Liquid Diet
The butterflies feed usually on nectar. They can’t chew solids, their mouthparts are modified to enable them to drink only. A proboscis, which functions like a drinking straw, stays curled up under the butterfly’s chin until it finds a good source of nectar or other liquid nutrients.
10. Can’t Fly if it’s Cold
The ideal body temperature to fly is 85 degrees Fahrenheit. Because they are cold blooded animals, they can’t regulate their own body temperatures. Due to this the surrounding air temperature has a big impact on their ability to function. If the air temperature falls below 55 degree Fahrenheit, they turn immobile, unable to flee from predators or feed.
11. Easy to Attract
Buddleia, also known as the butterfly bush, is the best plant for attracting butterflies to your garden. The nectar of this plant is favored by most butterfly species.
12. The Pupal Stage
The life cycle of a butterfly starts from the caterpillar to pupae and then into pretty butterflies. This pupal stage is extremely wild as the caterpillar’s body basically turns into the soup and gets completely reorganized into an adult butterfly later.
13. Not Poisonous to Humans
But to this there is an exception; the African moth whose pupae are very poisonous. It’s so dangerous that the juices from it are used to make the local people’s arrows poisonous.
14. Extreme Importance
It’s not just about their beauty but they play a vital role in the ecosystem by taking part in the pollination process. In our ecosystem, all the things are interconnected. That makes us dependent on butterflies to some extent.
15. Can’t Camouflage
Most animals Camouflage to hide, but butterflies can’t because they always tries to grab our attention. The spots on their wings appear to look like eyes which help to trick the predators into thinking that they are much bigger and more dangerous animals.
Their beauty is what makes them a universal favorite. They have the ability of metamorphosis, can fly far distances, are perfect initiators, and are extremely pretty. Reading these it would be impossible to resist their beauty and admire how pretty they look.
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