Butterfly facts

Check out our range of fun butterfly facts for kids. Learn about the lifecycle of butterflies, their wings, what they eat and much more. Read on and enjoy a variety of interesting information about butterflies.

• Butterflies are insects.

• A butterfly’s lifecycle is made up of four parts, egg, larva (caterpillars), pupa (chrysalis) and adult.

• Butterflies attach their eggs to leaves with a special glue.

• Most caterpillars are plant eaters (herbivores).

• Fully grown caterpillars attach themselves to a suitable twig or leaf before shedding their outside layer of skin to reveal a hard skin underneath known as a chrysalis.

• An adult butterfly will eventually emerge from the chrysalis where it will wait a few hours for its wings to fill with blood and dry, before flying for the first time.

• Butterflies can live in the adult stage from anywhere between a week and a year, depending on the species.

• Butterflies have four wings.

• Butterflies often have brightly coloured wings with unique patterns made up of tiny scales.

• Most butterflies feed on nectar from flowers.

• Butterflies taste receptors are on their feet.

• Scientists estimate that there are between 15000 and 20000 different species of butterfly.

• Birdwing butterflies have large, angular wings and fly in a similar way to birds.

• Monarch butterflies are known for their long migration. Every year monarch butterflies will travel a great distance (sometimes over 4000 km), females will lay eggs and a new generation of monarchs will travel back, completing the cycle.
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Source: Science Kids
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