BUTTERFLY

John Woodward


Butterfly
© 2010 by Infobase Publishing
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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Woodward, John, 1954Butterfly / John Woodward.
p. cm. -- (Garden minibeasts up close)
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978-1-60413-899-3 (hardcover)
ISBN 978-1-4381-3443-7 (e-book)
1. Butterflies--Juvenile literature. I. Title. II. Series: Woodward, John, 1954- Garden minibeasts up close.
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2010008890

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Contents
Finding butterflies

4

A butterfly’s body


6

Wings and colors

8

Senses

10

Feeding

12

Females and males

14

Laying eggs

16

Hungry caterpillars

18

Metamorphosis

20


Enemies

22

Defenses

24

Migration

26

Butterflies and people

28

Glossary

30

Further resources

31

Index

32



Finding butterflies
Butterflies love to be out in the sunshine, just like
people! You can look for them on warm, bright sunny
days. They feed on the sweet nectar of flowers,
so the best place to find them is a garden.
Some plants attract more butterflies than others.
One of the best ways to see butterflies is to plant
the flowers they like!
Butterflies like to live in
warm places. On sunny days,
you will often see them
feeding on flowers.

4


Look out for butterflies
when you are walking
in the woods. They are
sometimes difficult to
spot among the trees.

Did You Know?
Some butterflies sleep
through the winter in cool
buildings. If you find one, you
must leave it alone. If the
butterfly wakes it may
use up all its energy
flying around and die

before spring.

Some butterflies rarely
visit gardens. They need
to lay their eggs on
special plants that grow
in other places, such
as woodlands. So when
you go for a walk in the
woods, look for different
types of butterflies.

5


A butterfly’s body
Let’s take a closer look at the body of a butterfly. Like
all adult insects its body is split into three parts. It has
a head with big eyes and two antennae, or feelers. The
middle part of the body is the thorax. The tail area is
called the abdomen.
Eye

Butterflies
have six
legs. Some
butterflies
only use
four of their
legs for

walking. The
other two
are very
small.

Thorax

Abdomen

6

Antennae

Leg


This Tiger moth has beautiful
patterns on its wings. They
are a warning to enemies
that the moth is poisonous.

Butterflies are famous
for their brightly
colored wings. They
have four of them.
When butterflies are
young they are wingless,
crawling caterpillars.

Did You Know?

Moths are very similar to
butterflies, but there are
differences. Butterflies
rest with their wings folded
together. Moths fold their wings
flat when they perch. Most
moths fly at night and are not
as colorful as butterflies—but
some are beautiful.

7


Wings and colors
The first thing
you notice about
butterflies is their
amazing, colorful
wings. As they
flutter from flower
to flower, the
colors seem
to glitter.

This close-up photograph
shows the scales on a
butterfly’s wings. You should
never touch a butterfly’s
wings. The scales are very
delicate and fall off easily.


8

The wings are
covered in tiny,
colored scales, like
tiles on a roof. There are
more than 100,000 scales on
each wing. The scales make
the striking patterns that you
can see on a butterfly’s wing.


Did You Know?
The colors on a
butterfly’s wings can
help keep it warm. When
a butterfly is cold, it
warms itself in the sun.
Dark-colored scales
are especially good at
soaking up the heat.

The female Queen Alexandra
Birdwing butterfly is the largest
in the world. It has a wingspan
of up to 12 and a half inches.
The smallest is the Western
Pygmy Blue with a wingspan of
just over half an inch.


Butterflies, such as this
Swallowtail, love to soak up the
sun. Moths only come out at
night. They warm themselves up
by moving their wings very fast
for a while before taking off.

9


Senses
Do you think butterflies are pretty just for our
benefit? Of course not! They look like that to show
off to each other.
Butterflies have very good eyesight. But they see
some colors better than others. They cannot see dark
red, so the “reds” on butterfly wings are normally
bright and almost orange. Butterflies
are very attracted to
blue, purple, and
violet colors.

This Tortoiseshell
butterfly shows
off its beautiful,
orangey-red colors.

10



Butterflies use their
antennae to smell the world
around them. They use them
to find flower nectar to eat,
and even to find a mate.

As well as good eyesight,
butterflies use their
antennae to pick up
scent and taste. They can
also taste with their feet.

Did You Know?
Many flowers reflect a sort
of light called ultraviolet to
attract butterflies and other
insects. The reflections form
patterns that we cannot
see—but the insects can!

11


Feeding

Butterflies curl up their long
tongues when they are not
feeding. Some butterflies
have tongues almost as

long as their bodies.

If you have a sweet tooth, you would probably enjoy
being a butterfly. Most butterflies feed on the sugary
nectar that bees use to make honey. They sip the nectar
from flowers using their long tongues. When they are not
feeding, they roll up their tongue in a coil.

12


Did You Know?
Butterflies also eat ripe
or rotting fruit—and
even animal dung! They
sometimes drink from
muddy puddles, too.

Some butterflies don’t feed at
all. This is because they don’t
live long as flying adults. They
survive on energy that they
stored up when they
were caterpillars.

A butterfly uses its
tongue like a straw,
sucking up the sugary
nectar from flowers.


Tongue

13


Females and males
Did You Know?
Male and female
butterflies can be
attracted to each other
in lots of different ways.
The colors on their wings
can attract a mate. Some
butterflies show off
by making pretty
patterns in the air
as they fly.

Two Little Yellow
butterflies hang
from a leaf as they
mate. Butterflies
usually mate in a
back-to-back position.

14

Male Black Swallowtail
butterflies join forces to claim
joint territories. They hang

around trees or hilltops
and perform beautiful
group displays to
attract females.


A male butterfly flutters his wings above a female. He hopes
to attract her with the scent that blows toward her.

However, most butterflies
choose their mate because
of his or her smell. Males
have special scales on their
wings that produce scent.
They flutter around a female
blowing the scent toward her.
If she is impressed she will
mate with him.

Did You Know?
Some male butterflies hold
the female’s antennae
between their wings.
This makes sure that her
antennae are covered
with his scent.

15



Laying eggs
Did You Know?
A female butterfly
checks that she is
laying her eggs on
the correct plant
by tasting its leaves
with her feet.

This Pierid butterfly lays lots
of small, yellow eggs with care.
She has carefully chosen this
plant. She knows the young
caterpillars will be happy
to eat its leaves.

16

Caterpillars are very
fussy eaters. Most
will only eat a few
types of plant. Some
will only eat one. This
means that their mothers
must be very careful to
lay the eggs on the right
plants. This can be difficult
because the plants may be
quite rare.



Baby caterpillars have
begun to hatch out of
these tiny butterfly eggs.
Some types of butterfly lay
up to 350 eggs at a time.

When a female butterfly finds the plant she is looking
for, she attaches her eggs to the stems or leaves. The
eggs are tiny, but they are very tough. This means they
can survive bad weather.

17


Hungry caterpillars
You’ve probably watched caterpillars chomping through
leaves, or seen the holes they make. Caterpillars use
their strong jaws to chew plants. They do not have long
tongues like butterflies.

Did You Know?
A caterpillar’s first meal is
usually its eggshell. Some
caterpillars eat other
insects such as aphids.
A few are even
cannibals that may
eat each other!


This newly-hatched
caterpillar enjoys its first
meal—its own eggshell!

18


You may think
that caterpillars
are greedy,
but they are
very fussy.
This Swallowtail
caterpillar will
only eat leaves
from a small
group of plants.

They eat constantly, growing bigger all the time. As a
caterpillar grows it must shed its old skin many times.
Although the skin is quite flexible, it cannot stretch very
far. Luckily a caterpillar’s sausage shape makes shedding
its skin quite easy—almost like taking off socks!

19


Metamorphosis
Did You Know?
Some caterpillars spin a

cocoon before they turn
into a pupa. The cocoon
is made of silk. It helps to
protect the pupa.

Imagine waking up from a
deep sleep and discovering
that you have completely
changed shape, and even grown
wings! This is what happens to a
caterpillar. When it is fully grown it turns
into a legless pupa, or chrysalis.

This Monarch caterpillar
is turning into a pupa.
This is called pupation.
At first the pupa is soft,
but it soon hardens.

20


This Monarch butterfly has just crawled out
of the pupa. Its wings are damp and crumpled.
Once they have dried, the butterfly will fly
off to begin its life as an adult.

Inside the pupa the caterpillar changes into a
butterfly or moth. This is called metamorphosis.
It may take weeks or months.

Eventually the pupa splits open and a crumpled adult
crawls out. It pumps up its wings with blood and air and
waits for them to dry. Then it flies off to find a meal.

21


Enemies

Did You Know?
Some wasps inject their
eggs into living caterpillars,
such as the one shown
here. When the tiny wasp
grubs hatch they eat the
poor caterpillar alive!
Wasps eggs

Caterpillars make a
delicious meal for many
animals, especially birds. Birds
that nest in backyards and woods often feed their young
on caterpillars. They collect hundreds every day.
Yellowjacket wasps and hornets sometimes grab
caterpillars and carry them off to their nests.

22


Some of the butterfly’s most deadly enemies are other

insects. Spiders, beetles, and praying mantises can attack
butterflies when they land on flowers to feed.
Other animals that like to eat butterflies include frogs,
lizards, and bats.
When a butterfly lands on a flower
to feed, it has to be very careful.
There may be enemies, such as
this crab spider, ready to attack.

23


Defenses
Have you noticed that many caterpillars are really hard
to see? That’s because they are camouflaged to look like
parts of plants. Butterflies can also be camouflaged to
look like the flowers they feed on. This is a good defense
against enemies.
Can you spot the caterpillar in
this picture? Just above the
leaf, there is a ‘Twig’ caterpillar.
It fools enemies with its clever,
twig-like camouflage.

24