Everyone must have seen butterflies. They are the most perfect masterpieces of nature. They are like a elf, giving people a dreamy feeling through their beautiful appearance. Watching butterflies flying in the sky is like watching a magician perform magic tricks for us.
Butterflies are one of the most popular types of insects, and are known as "flying flowers" because of their bright colors. Adult butterflies feed on nectar or other liquid nutrients to sustain life. Therefore, adult butterflies themselves are not harmful to humans. On the contrary, they have the function of spreading pollen.
The lifespan of butterflies varies, with a long life span of up to 11 months and a short life span of only 2 to 3 weeks. During the life cycle of butterflies, male butterflies are busy looking for female butterflies to mate, and female butterflies are busy looking for hosts to lay eggs.
Butterflies are called "flying flowers" in large part because of their beautiful appearance and brightly colored wings. In fact, the important role of butterfly wings is to regulate body temperature just like human skin.
There are many scale powders on butterfly wings, and the color of wings is divided into physical color and chemical color. The physical color is to adjust the reflection of sunlight by changing the angle of the scales, thereby controlling the body temperature. So under strong light, the color of the wings will not change. The chemistry is to change the wing color through pigments, so in bright light the color changes as it is destroyed by the sun's rays.
Butterfly is a magical creature, not only looks good, but also has some characteristics that are different from other creatures, let's take a look.
1. Butterflies taste with their feet
Humans taste primarily with their tongues, so one would assume butterflies are the same. But butterflies use their feet to taste.
There are taste receptors on the feet of butterflies, which can help them identify host plants and find suitable food, and also help them find the host plants that their next generation will feed on and lay eggs on them.
2. Butterflies only eat liquid food
Butterflies can only eat liquid food, usually just a little nectar. They can only suck liquid food, but cannot chew solid food. Some butterflies can suck on tree sap, and some even suck on rotting juices and alcoholic liquids.
3. Butterflies only fly at the right temperature
You may have noticed a phenomenon, butterflies always like to fly in the warm day. This is because they need to be at an ideal body temperature (28~30°C) to fly. Because they are ectotherms, they cannot regulate their own body temperature. The ambient air temperature has a big effect on their ability to fly.
If the temperature is too low, the butterfly will lose the ability to fly, unable to escape from predators. When the temperature is between 27℃~38℃, butterflies can fly easily. When the weather is cold, butterflies need to activate their flight muscles by constantly flapping their wings. But when the temperature exceeds 38 ℃, it will also affect its flight activities due to overheating.
