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Butterflies actually have four wings, not two.

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Butterflies actually have four wings, not two.

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Speaking of wings, we may have intentionally left the most fascinating butterfly fact until last! Despite how they may appear in motion, or in drawings or paintings you may have seen, butterflies have four separate wings. The wings closest to its head are called the forewings, while those in the rear are called the hindwings. Thanks to strong muscles in the butterfly’s thorax, all four wings move up and down in a figure-eight pattern during flight.

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Butterfly wings help them against predators.

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Butterfly wings help them against predators.

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As we’ve discussed, the lifespan of the average butterfly is short, and even at their peak, these insects are some of the most fragile. Staying alive for as long as possible allows the butterfly additional opportunities to mate, and continuing the existence of its species is of utmost importance. Therefore, butterflies frequently use their wings as a defense mechanism. Either by folding to blend in with their surroundings, or wearing a full spectrum of colors and patterns to frighten predators, a butterfly’s wings are often their best protection.

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Teacher Essential Question: What are some unique features and characteristics of a butterly?

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Teacher Essential Question: What are some unique features and characteristics of a butterly?

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You must create 1 original post and create 1 peer response post. You may share photos, links, websites, and videos with your posts.

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 One of the largest butterflies is the Giant Swallowtail Butterfly.

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 One of the largest butterflies is the Giant Swallowtail Butterfly.

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With a wingspread of between four and seven inches, this species has a name that fits its dimensions. If you have ever seen one on a hike or around your yard, you may have been spellbound by the sight of it. Their swallowtail description is borrowed from birds of the same name, thanks to the long tails on this butterfly’s hindwings

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Butterfly House Tours 6 - Giant Swallowtail

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The most common butterfly in the US is the Cabbage White.

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The most common butterfly in the US is the Cabbage White.

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Named for its mostly white marking, when hints of yellow and green like the vegetable, the Cabbage White may not be the most colorful butterfly in your garden or yard, but it is the most common. The male Cabbage White has one prominent black spot on each wing, while the female has two.

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 There are almost 20,000 butterfly species.

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 There are almost 20,000 butterfly species.

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If you’d ever considered memorizing all the various species of butterflies, it may take longer than you were anticipating. An easier starting point would be those species regularly occurring in the lower 48 states of the US. Still, that number is right around 575, so we’re recommending note cards or, perhaps, focusing on the butterflies you find in and around your yard this spring and summer.

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10 Most Beautiful Butterflies on Planet Earth

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For everyone who has been anxiously awaiting this since our earlier reference, or who simply skipped ahead until they found it, here you go. The average lifespan of an adult butterfly is roughly three to four weeks, however, the entire life cycle can last anywhere between two and eight months. As with anything, there are exceptions to the rule. At least one species of butterfly lives for approximately 24 hours, while some migratory butterflies, like the North American Monarch, can survive for nearly eight months.

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How long do butterflies live?

Different butterfly species have different potential life spans for the adult stage.

By marking butterflies then recapturing or sighting them later, scientists gain information on how long butterflies can live. An average butterfly species has an adult life span of two weeks or less. For example one butterfly studied in Costa Rica had a life expectancy of about two days, and live ten days at the most.

No adult butterfly can live more than a year. The Mourning Cloak ( Nymphalis antiopa) adult and some related tortoiseshells and anglewings that hatch in early summer may live almost a year. The Mourning Cloak over winters as an adult and then waits to court, mate and lay eggs the following spring or early summer.

Monarchs ( Danaus plexippus) and Swallowtails may live about a month in the summer, but the Monarchs that migrate to Mexico or to the California coast may live up to six months.

Some long-lived tropical butterflies live up to six months as adults. The long-life champion is a tiny yucca moth that feeds on Banana Yucca ( Yucca baccata). Dr. Jerry Powell of the University of California at Berkeley has found this moth's caterpillar may be able to wait up until 30 years to form a pupa and emerge as an adult.

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Different butterfly species have different potential life spans for the adult stage. By marking butterflies then recapturing or sighting them later, scientists gain information on how long butterflies can live. An average butterfly species has an adult life span of two weeks or less.

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If everything up until this point was already a part of your existing butterfly knowledge, this fact may come as a curveball. However, if you think about it from the butterfly’s point of view, it isn’t that unusual. A butterfly’s daily activities consist of eating and mating, both of which require landing – even if it is only briefly. When food is the priority, those taste receptors help the butterfly locate the right plants and the key nutrients it needs for survival. Although many people wonder what it means when a butterfly lands on them, the truth is that it’s probably just hungry

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Some butterfly species migrate from the cold.

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Some butterfly species migrate from the cold.

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Although in many cases cold weather will end the already short life of a butterfly by rendering them immobile, others take the dropping temperature as a signal to move. Butterflies are cold-blooded and require – in ideal settings – a body temperature of approximately 85 degrees to activate their flight muscles. If the weather begins changing some species simply migrate in search of sunshine. Some, like the North American Monarch, travel an average of 2,500 miles!

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The annual migration of North America's monarch butterfly is a unique and amazing phenomenon. The monarch is the only butterfly known to make a two-way migration as birds do. Unlike other butterflies that can overwinter as larvae, pupae, or even as adults in some species, monarchs cannot survive the cold winters of northern climates. Using environmental cues, the monarchs know when it is time to travel south for the winter. Monarchs use a combination of air currents and thermals to travel long distances. Some fly as far as 3,000 miles to reach their winter home!

Where Do Monarchs Go?

Monarchs in Eastern North America have a second home in the Sierra Madre Mountains of Mexico. Monarchs in Western North America overwinter in California.

Eastern North American Population

Overwintering in Mexico

The eastern population of North America's monarchs overwinters in the same 11 to 12 mountain areas in the States of Mexico and Michoacan from October to late March.

Monarchs roost for the winter in oyamel fir forests at an elevation of 2,400 to 3,600 meters (nearly 2 miles above sea level). The mountain hillsides of oyamel forest provide an ideal microclimate for the butterflies. Here temperatures range from 0 to 15 degrees Celsius. If the temperature is lower, the monarchs will be forced to use their fat reserves. The humidity in the oyamel forest assures the monarchs won't dry out allowing them to conserve their energy.

Directional Aids

Researchers are still investigating what directional aids monarchs use to find their overwintering location. It appears to be a combination of directional aids such as the magnetic pull of the earth and the position of the sun among others, not one in particular.

Clustering in Colonies

Monarchs cluster together to stay warm. Tens of thousands of monarchs can cluster on a single tree. Although monarchs alone weigh less than a gram, tens of thousands of them weigh a lot. Oyamel trees are generally able to support the clustering butterflies, but sometimes branches break.

Protection of Oyamel Forest

Conservation of overwintering habitat is very important to the survival of monarchs. The Mexican Government recognized the importance of oyamel forests to monarch butterflies and created the Monarch Butterfly Biosphere Reserve in 1986.

Monarchs can travel between 50-100 miles a day; it can take up to two months to complete their journey. The farthest ranging monarch butterfly recorded traveled 265 miles in one day.

Monarch butterflies are called Mariposa monarca in Mexico.

Western North American Population

Monarchs living west of the Rocky Mountain range in North America overwinter in California along the Pacific coast near Santa Cruz and San Diego. Here microclimatic conditions are very similar to that in central Mexico. Monarchs roost in eucalyptus, Monterey pines, and Monterey cypresses in California.

Stories of Biodiversity on the Move, Monarch Butterflies (Danaus plexippus)

A Google Earth Tour is posted on YouTube describing the migration of monarch butterflies, and the people that help them out along the way. It was produced by Atlantic Public Media in cooperation with the Encyclopedia of Life. Producers: Eduardo Garcia-Milagros and Ari Daniel Shapiro.
See the Monarch Butterflies Migration Google Earth Tour...
Flyways

Traveling South

Eastern North American monarchs fly south using several flyways then merge into a single flyway in Central Texas. It is truly amazing that these monarchs know the way to the overwintering sites even though this migrating generation has never before been to Mexico!

Congregation Sites

Monarchs only travel during the day and need to find a roost at night. Monarchs gather close together during the cool autumn evenings. Roost sites are important to the monarch migration. Many of these locations are used year after year. Often pine, fir and cedar trees are chosen for roosting. These trees have thick canopies that moderate the temperature and humidity at the roost site. In the mornings, monarchs bask in the sunlight to warm themselves.

Use of Peninsulas

Monarchs traveling south congregate on peninsulas. The shape of the peninsula funnels the migrating butterflies. At its tip, the monarchs find the shortest distance across open water. They congregate along the shore to wait for a gentle breeze to help them across.

Traveling North

As warm temperatures and lengthening days arrive, the migratory generation of monarchs finishes the development they halted prior to their migration. They become reproductive, breed and lay the eggs of the new generation. This starts the northern journey back to North America. Unlike the generation before them, who made a one-generation journey south, successive generations make the journey north.

Multiple Generations

Generation 1 monarchs are the offspring of the monarchs who overwintered in Mexico. Each successive generation travels farther north. It will take 3-4 generations to reach the northern United States and Canada.

For More Information

Tracking Migration

The northern migration is tracked by an organization called Journey North. You can help track the migration of the monarch butterfly by visiting this site.
Report your sightings!
The Western Monarch Milkweed Mapper project is part of a collaborative effort to map and better understand monarch butterflies and their host plants across the Western U.S. Data compiled through this project will improve our understanding of the distribution and phenology of monarchs and milkweeds, identify important breeding areas, and help us better understand monarch conservation needs.
Help us track monarchs and milkweed across the West!
You can learn more about a project to track the southern migration at Papalotzin, The Journey of the Monarch Butterfly.

The Monarch Highway Poster

The landscape that parallels roadways, like the I-35 corridor, can provide natural habitat to support the annual migration of the monarch butterfly. The Pollinator Partnership, including a number of state, local and federal government agencies, corporations, and organizations collaborating and supporting pollinators and conservation of their habitat developed this poster to celebrate the monarch butterfly.

The I-35 corridor follows Interstate 35 through six states from Minnesota south to Texas, following the central flyway of monarch migration. In 2016, these states signed a memorandum of understanding that informally named I-35 the "Monarch Highway" and agreed to implement coordinated management practices along the corridor that benefit monarchs and other pollinators.
Visit the Pollinator Partnership to see the poster and read more about The Monarch Highway...

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The monarch butterfly (Danaus plexippus) is among the most recognized, studied, and loved of all of North America's insects. Awareness of the monarch butterfly's life cycle and habitat requirements is essential for their survival and an important step in the conservation of this animal.

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Before you feel the need to schedule an eye exam, let us explain. The wings of a butterfly are covered in a multitude of miniature scales  –thousands of them. And those colors you see when a butterfly flits across your yard are the reflection of various colors through the scales. The wings themselves are made up of a protein called chitin, which is the same protein that forms an insect’s exoskeleton. And much like an exoskeleton, chitin is transparent. You’ve learned something new already!

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We mentioned earlier that butterflies like to eat, which is true. What we didn’t include at the time is that their source of food is exclusively liquid. In fact, they simply don’t have the necessary apparatus for chewing. Using their proboscis, which functions in the same way you or I might use a straw, butterflies drink nectar or some other variation of liquid sustenance

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One of the most common questions we get at the Nature Museum is, "What do butterflies eat?" In order to better understand what they eat, we have to understand how they eat!

Butterflies have a long tongue, called a proboscis, which they can curl and uncurl to drink through like a straw. Because of their straw-like mouthparts, butterflies are mainly restricted to a liquid diet.

Butterflies use their proboscis to drink sweet nectar from flowers. Nectar sometimes resides deep within a flower and the proboscis allows the butterfly to reach this sugary treat. We fill the Judy Istock Butterfly Haven with an abundance of flowering plants that produce ample nectar for the butterflies, including: coral vine, firespike, jungle cucumber, Ixora, and lantana.

We also provide sponge pads soaked with simulated nectar for the butterflies. The simulated nectar is made by mixing honey and water.

Some butterflies also enjoy a different sugary treat, fruit. They especially enjoy fully ripened and rotting fruit. Why is that? As fruit starts to decompose it softens and becomes more liquid. Butterflies will eat a variety of fruit. We like to feed them bananas, apples, and pears. We poke each piece of fruit many times to make it nice and juicy and give space for butterflies to stick their proboscises.

Butterflies do not always eat for their own nourishment. Many kinds of butterflies, usually male, will feed on other moist substances like puddles, wet gravel, sweat, scat, and even tears! What these butterflies are often doing is gathering salts and minerals to pass on to female butterflies which helps with egg development. Sometimes a large group of butterflies can be seen feeding in this way together, a puddle club!

You can learn more about how butterflies eat by checking out the video below.

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What do butterflies eat? - Peggy Notebaert Nature Museum

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One of the most common questions we get at the Nature Museum is, "What do butterflies eat?" In order to better understand what they eat, we have to understand how they eat!