Butterflies
Butterflies are one of nature’s most beautiful creatures. Scientist believe there are about 24,000 different species of butterflies. "Butter-colored fly" is thought to be the origin of the name butterfly, which applied to the brimstone butterfly one of Britain’s most well-known butterfly. Both butterflies and moths belong to the Lepidoptera family. They have many things in common however the main distinctions between the two are a moth 's antennae are feathery or saw-edged and Moths have a frenulum, which is a wing-coupling device which butterflies do not have. Butterflies go through about four life stages before the end of their life span, which depending on the type of butterfly can be a week or up to a year. Every year monarch butterflies will travel a great distance sometimes over 2,500 miles. Females will lay eggs and a new generation of monarchs will travel back, completing the cycle. Butterflies can only drink liquids because they have no way of chewing, they have a long narrow tube in their mouth called a proboscis that acts as a straw. They usually drink nectar as their food source however they have also been known to eat tree sap, dung, pollen, or rotting fruit. They are attracted to sodium found in salt and sweat. This is why they sometimes even land on people in Butterfly Parks. Most butterflies have taste receptors on their feet. Butterflies usually have an average life span of around a month however that can be shortened by predators, disease, and situational factors. The greatest threats to butterflies are habitat change and loss due to residential, commercial and agricultural development.
