Fun Butterfly Facts

Fun Butterfly Facts

• Some kinds of butterflies live for just two weeks while others may live up to nine months.
• A butterfly has four wings.
• The brightly coloured wings are made up of tiny scales.
• Scientists thought butterflies were deaf until 1912 when they found they had ears.
• Most butterflies feed on nectar from flowers.

• If a human baby could grow as fast as a monarch caterpillar, in just two weeks it would be as big as a double-decker bus.
• We don’t recommend this, but if you lick a chrysalis and it is warm, then it is not alive.  If it is cold, it is alive and well.
• Many butterflies never go to the toilet – they use up all they eat to make energy.
• A butterfly drinks through a ‘straw’.  Its long tube-like tongue (curled up when not in use) is called a proboscis.
• A caterpillar is an eating machine and a butterfly is an egg-laying machine.
• The largest butterfly in Australia is the Cairns Birdwing.
  

• Butterflies taste with their feet.
• Monarch butterflies can fly up to 4,000 kms to escape the cold winter  (eg Canada to Mexico).
• Butterflies mostly fly during the day and moths at night.
• Butterflies sometimes drink moisture and minerals from wet soil or even manure.
• Butterflies attach their eggs to leaves with a special glue.
• A female butterfly may lay more than 100 eggs.

• A butterfly is very fussy about the kind of plant it will lay its eggs on.  It tests the leaves by tasting them with its feet.
• When a tiny caterpillar emerges from its egg, its very first meal is its eggshell.
• When big caterpillars are feeding, you can sometimes hear them munching.

• When a caterpillar gets too big for its skin, it sheds it to reveal a brand new skin underneath.
• When a caterpillar is very big, it attaches itself to a leaf or twig and sheds its last skin to reveal a chrysalis underneath.
• A butterfly’s life cycle is made up of four parts, egg (ova), caterpillar (larva), chrysalis (pupa), and butterfly (adult).
• A newly emerged butterfly sucks in air and the fluid in its body is pumped into its tiny wings until they expand to full size.
• The butterfly’s wings dry and harden for an hour or two then the butterfly can fly.

• Butterflies are mostly cold-blooded.
• Most butterflies fly at 8-20 km/hr
• A group of butterflies is sometimes called a flutter.
• A butterfly eye is made up of 6,000 lenses and can see ultra-violet light.
• Butterflies are wonderful, peaceful, beautiful, amazing, awesome!
• Butterflies are a sign of joy, peace and happiness.

References

• ‍www.thoughtco.com/fascinating-facts-about-butterflies-1968171
• ‍petpedia.co/butterfly-facts
• ‍www.butterflyhouse.com.au/butterfly-encyclopedia/butterfly-facts
• ‍www.thefactsite.com/beautiful-butterfly-facts
• ‍www.lewisginter.org/butterfly-facts‍