Who doesn’t want to see one of these wingless beauties fly? Butterflies are an insect that we can all admire, from their vibrantly colorful bodies to the smooth motion that appears in time with some inaudible symphony.
But what do we actually know about them? These ten interesting facts will undoubtedly change the way you perceive butterflies.
Although it would take blindness to deny that butterflies are attractive, here are some interesting facts about them that you may not be aware of.
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Fun Facts about Butterflies
1. Unlike humans, butterflies use their feet to taste instead of their tongues.
2. The night butterflies are a subgroup of butterflies that develop ears on their wings to prevent bats from grabbing them and eating them.
3. Butterflies have a cool blood type! If their body temperature falls below 30 degrees Celsius, they are unable to fly.
4. Butterflies don’t have mouths; instead, they’suck’ food up with a proboscis, which resembles a drinking straw.
5. Butterflies are finicky eaters, often sipping nectar from flowers with only one petal; red, purple, yellow, and pink flowers are among their favorites.
However, certain butterflies, like the Red Admiral, like to eat decaying fruit and animal excrement and are more gluttons than gourmets.
6. The butterfly’s wings are translucent. What we perceive as color is really light reflected off the scales on their wings, not pigment.
7. With wings approximately 26 cm in length, female Queen Alexandra butterflies from Papua New Guinea are the biggest in the world. That is almost as high as a wine bottle!
8. The only butterfly-free continent on earth is Antarctica.
9. To defend themselves and retain water within their bodies so they don’t dry up, butterflies have skeletons on the exterior of their bodies (known as an exoskeleton).
10. Between the time of hatching and pupation, a caterpillar’s body size multiplies by an astounding 30,000 or more times. Way cool.
