Fun 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.

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