 |
|
 |
How many butterflies can you see in the picture? This species is called Indian Leaf Butterfly and lives in the south of Asia and in Australia. |
| |
|
How many species of butterflies are there?
|
Top | Next 
|
 |
There are about 15,000-20,000 species of butterflies and about
150,000-250,000 species of moths all over the world. They can be found on every
continent except Antarctica and there are still a lot of them who have not yet
been discovered.
To go to sleep, butterflies look for a safe place like the underside of a
leaf or a branch, for example.
Most butterflies sleep alone, but there are also species sleeping in groups.
Poisonous butterflies have a particular smell that probably protects them better
when they sleep together. It is also useful not to change the group’s sleeping
place because a predator who attacked a poisonous butterfly one time won’t do
this again. There is only a limited number of predators in an area so there is
only a limited number to "educate" if the sleeping place stays the
same.
One species from Costa Rica whose scientific name is marpesia berania
sleeps in groups on a leaf. If one butterfly of the group is disturbed, it opens
its wings and touches its neighbors. Being touched, they open their wings as
well and so the whole group is informed about the danger and can escape
together.
The speed of their flight depends on the way the butterfly or moth flies:
Blues and Whites normally have speeds under 5 mph (=8 km/h), the speed of
Fritillaries is between 10 mph and 25 mph (=16 to 40 km/h) and Hawk-Moths can
reach speeds up to 34 mph (=54km/h). Some species of the family of the Skippers
reach speeds up to 37 mph (=60 km/h).
| |
|
How do butterflies escape from predators?
|
 Prev. | Top | Next
|
|
Besides warning and scaring predators with colors butterflies fly in a
special way. The direction of their staggering flight is hard to predict.
When they hear the sounds of a bat, the ones flying at night start a zigzag
flight in all directions: up and down, left and right. So it gets hard for the
bat to catch them.
| |
|
How do poisonous moths warn predators in the dark?
|
Prev. | Top | Next
|
|
At night a bright warning pattern on the wings is of no use. It cannot be
seen in the dark. So some poisonous moths make clicking noises to warn bats that
they are poisonous. Of course other species copy this sound to profit of the
protective effect, too.
| |
|
On what kind of living fur do moths live?
|
Prev. | Top | Next
|
|
Some moths feed on fur. The only "living" fur they can live on is a
sloth’s one. The sloth is so slow that the moths always find their way back
"home" from their flights. The caterpillars of these moths feed on the
droppings of sloth.
| |
|
What is the scientific name for "butterfly"?
|
Prev. | Top | Next |
|
The scientific name for "butterfly" is "Lepidoptera" and
means "scaly wings".
|
|
|
|
