Butterflies are insects. Like all
insects they have three body parts (head, thorax, abdomen), six
legs (attached to the thorax), and two antennae (feelers).
The changing process a butterfly goes
through during its life-cycle is called metamorphosis.
The changes are from egglarva or caterpillarpupa into a
chrysalisadult butterfly. Then the cycle starts
again.
Butterflies use their antennae for
smelling and their feet for tasting.
Their proboscis
(tongue) is like a long thin drinking straw. It is used to suck nectar out
of flowers. It curls up when not being used, just like a party noisemaker!
Butterflies breathe through their
bodies because they don't have lungs.
The butterfly's eye has thousands of
tiny lenses; a human eye has only one. It's called a compound eye.
Butterfly wings are covered with tiny
scales that overlap like scales on a fish or tiles on a roof.
Butterflies are found on every
continent except Antarctica but are most plentiful in hot areas of the
world.
Those that live in cooler areas spend
the winter as eggs or pupae in chrysalides.
Butterflies aren't as fragile as they
look; many have amazing endurance to escape predators and other danger.
Some butterflies (Monarchs) migrate
for thousands of miles.
Butterflies have green blood.
The red liquid seen when the butterfly
emerges from the chrysalis is not blood. It's maconium, the
liquid that fills out the wings.
There are over 750 different species
of butterflies in North America
The largest butterfly is the Queen
Alexandria's Birdwing.
The smallest butterfly is the Western
Pygmy Blue.
Caterpillars look as if they have many
legs but they have only three pairs of true legs. The others are
"false" legs and disappear during the final metamorphosis.
