One of the main reasons for butterflies’ popularity probably is their beautiful coloring. But this is more than only nice to look at.

Dark colors help the butterflies to absorb the heat of the sunbeams they need because they can’t produce heat themselves. They are cold-blooded.

Colors that often don’t seem so attractive to us can be useful to get invisible. Being forced to hide from patrolling birds and others many butterflies are real masters of camouflage.

Bright colors and contrasts often are a warning to predators that the butterfly is poisonous. By imitating these colorings other butterflies profit from the deterrent effect (mimicry). Other butterflies look like "scaring" insects such as wasps or hornets.

eyespots on the wings of a butterfly

But not only this way predators are frightened and fooled. Big "eyes" appearing suddenly when the butterfly opens its wings scare attacking birds and others. Giving the impression of the head being on the backside is effective for protection, too. Predators normally attack what they consider the head so they catch the less sensitive part of this butterfly. They also expect it to escape in the other  direction.

However, not only between the different species of butterflies there are differences in coloring but also between male and female in some cases. And there are also particularities of coloring.