1. The life-cycle of a butterfly is in four stages: egg, caterpillar, pupa and adult butterfly.
Monarch Butterfly
2. Butterfly wings are transparent.
Wings of a butterfly are covered by thousands of tiny scales which reflect light in different colors. But underneath all of those scales, a butterfly wing is actually formed by layers of chitin the same protein that makes up an insect's exoskeleton. These layers are so thin that one can see right through them. As a butterfly ages, scales fall off the wings, leaving spots of transparency where the chitin layer is exposed.
3. Butterflies live on an all-liquid diet.
Butterflies can only feed on liquids—usually nectar. Their mouth parts are modified not for chewing or biting solids but to drink nectar or sap. A proboscis acts as a drinking straw. It actually stays curled up under the butterfly's chin until it finds a proper source of nectar or sap. The long, tubular structure proboscis then unfurls and sips up nectar from flowers & sap or juice from rotten fruits.
4. Butterflies taste with their feet.
Butterfly has taste sensors or receptors on their feet that help them to locate food for their caterpillars. They stand on a leaf and taste through their feet. If they determine the leaves of that plant can be eaten by their caterpillars, they will lay their eggs on those leaves.
5. Butterflies Vs Moth
Butterflies and moths are part of the same group of insects, known as ‘Lepidoptera’. But their behavior can differ each other, butterflies fly in bright sunshine, while moths are most active at night. When they sit somewhere, butterfly rises their wings, while moth flatten their wings during sitting.
6. Butterflies drink from mud puddles.
A butterfly, specially a male butterfly occasionally drinks from a mud puddles to supplement their sugar based diet (nectar) with minerals, as mud is a rich source of minerals. This behavior is very often known as puddling. Some sodium addicted butterfly sometimes drink the tear of a turtle.
7. Butterflies take care of their young ones in a unique way.
Female butterflies produce a special sticky fluid to attach their eggs to plants. The glue helps to keep the eggs stuck in place safely and intact. Once the eggs are attached to a leaf with this glue, a butterfly doesn’t stay to care for its young. But it does carefully plan where it lays its eggs. It only chooses those plants that can provide their caterpillars plenty of food when they eventually hatch from their eggs. The first thing a caterpillar eats after it hatches from its cocoon is usually the shell of the cocoon itself.
8. A newly emerged butterfly can't fly.
Inside the chrysalis, a developing butterfly waits to emerge with its wings collapsed around its body. When it finally get free from its cocoon or from its pupal case, it greets the world with tiny, shriveled wings. The butterfly must immediately pump body fluid through its wing veins to expand them. Once its wings reach their full size, the butterfly must rest for a few hours to allow its body to dry and harden before it can take its first flight.
9. Butterflies can't fly if they are cold.
10. Butterflies can vary greatly in size.
The largest butterfly in the world is the female Queen Alexandra’s birdwing with wingspan of over 25 cm & the smallest butterfly is the Western Blue Pigmy, which is only 2 cm across.
11. Butterflies has a bright eyesight.
Butterfly's eyes consist of a network of 6000 lenses. It has an ability to see beyond the ultraviolet spectrum. It can see ultraviolet colors of that range which are totally invisible even from the human eyes. Some butterfly contain ultraviolet marks on their wing so that it can help them to identify each other and locate potential mates. Flowers also sometimes display ultraviolet markings that act as traffic signals for incoming pollinators like butterflies. Butterflies are nearsighted. It can see quite good within a distance about 10-12 feet & anything beyond that distance seems to be a little blurry to them.
12. Butterfly can hear.
Many scientists thought butterflies were completely deaf until they first identified butterfly ears in 2012.
13. Availability of butterflies.
There are about 24,000 species of butterflies. In some places, one can find so many caterpillars (Larva state of butterfly) feeding on plants that they can actually hear them munching. Antarctica is the only continent where no Lepidoptera ( Group of butterfly species) have been found.
14. Butterflies often live just a few weeks.
15. Butterfly's defense strategy against their predators.
16. Sometimes they fully utilize their energy.
Many adult butterflies do not excrete waste, as they can use everything they eat as energy.
17. Some can fly very fast.
Some butterfly species are extremely fast. For example, the Skipper Butterfly can fly faster than a horse can run.
18. Wings & their nature while moving.
Butterfly has four wings. The wings of butterflies move in a figure 8 motion.
19. An adult butterfly has a very short life.
The time it takes a caterpillar to evolve into a butterfly is usually between 10 and 15 days depending on the particular specie. Once it emerges from its chrysalis as an adult, in most of the cases a butterfly has only two to four short weeks to live. Some of the smallest butterflies like the blues may only survive a few days. However, butterflies like monarchs and mourning cloaks that migrate during winter can live as long as nine months.
20. Why this butterfly's name implies as swallow?
The Giant Swallowtail Butterfly, as its name implies, are called “swallow" because they have long tails on their hind wings that resemble the long, pointed tails of the birds known as swallows.
Reviewed by Antara
on
August 08, 2020
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