Introduction

Butterflies are extraordinary creatures with wings. There are more than 170,000 kinds of bufferflies in the world. They come in many colors, shapes and sizes. The biggest butterfly is the Queen Alexandra Birdwing which has a wingspan of 11 inches or 25cm. Many butterflies such as the Monarch migrate, flying south to Mexico, Florida and Southern California.

Caterpillars

When butterflies get older they (female) will lay eggs. After 1 week from the egg that the butterflies laid is hatching. From there a baby caterpillar comes out. The newly born caterpillar's first meal is its egg. The caterpillar when it is first born has a black eye. To get to be a butterfly the caterpillars be a cocoon for 4 times. The caterpillars love the leaves of an orange tree. Many caterpillars are hated by the farmers becanse they eat the crops they grow.

Life Cycle of the Butterfly

There are four stages in the life cycle of a butterfly-- the egg, the larva, the chrysalis and adulthood. (see our chart)

The egg of a butterfly will hatch and the caterpillar will chew the egg for its very first meal. They will grow and grow until they are very fat and have molted.

Then the caterpilar will go to a branch and hang upside-down building a chrysalis around itself. It connects the chrysalis to a branch by a fine thread of silk. It will stay in there for weeks or months until the chrysalis slowly falls off and the butterfly comes out waiting for its wings to dry.

Then the butterfly will try its new wings out. When the butterfly reaches adulthood this is when the butterfly will mate. Some butterflies can lay up to 1,500 eggs in their short lifetime. Some leaves will have patterns on them that look like eggs to stop female butterflies from laying eggs on them.

Butterfly Wings

The butterflies' wings are often light and their weight is very very light. Butterflies flap their wings down and it pushes againstthe air. This pushing moves the butterfly upwards and forwards.

The butterfty's wings have scales. The scates are for flying. The scates trap the wind and make them easier to fly. So when you catch a butterfly make sure you don't take the scale off. Otherwise the butterfly won't be able to fly in balance. Don't lick the scales of the insects. Dragonfiles, for example, don't have any scales.