Butterfly Release

Today was finally the day!

Here you see the set up....two butterfly habitats with *beautiful* butterfly-friendly plants nearby. Notice the frog in the bottom right by the net?

I think I brought this little guy from home in the plant!
I'm not sure if frogs eat butterflies...

Can you spot the butterfly?
I love these purple Lantana!!

Butterflies

We'll release them Friday!!

I have 2 butterfly habitats to fit all of them comfortably.
The main one is a net butterfly Pavilion.
The other is a cardboard fly box with big viewing windows.

You can see the antennae.
The circle directly under the antennae is the compound eye.
The little curved dark line under the eye is the proboscis (mouth) coiled up.

Note the muted colors of the underside of the wings!
Check out the little legs too.


These pictures show the brighter colors of the wings' top side

This little guy enjoys a some sugar water.

Butterflies can drown in small amounts of water so they drink from the sponge.

Notice the empty chrysalis casing left on the twig!

The Questions...

*Yay!* for enthusiasm toward learning!!!

It's a long one, but I'll spend as much time as needed looking up answers...

How many different kinds of butterflies are there?
Butterflies are found on every continent around the world except Antarctica. Scientists believe that there are approximately 12-15,000 species of butterflies. The United States and Canada are home to more than 750 species and a few kinds of butterflies are still being discovered.

Can I catch a butterfly?
*For Children* No, the wings are too delicate.
*For Adults* You may pinch together the wings while the butterfly rests with it's wings together. Be careful to touch as little of the wing as possible and be very gentle! Be forewarned though it's hard to sneak up on a butterfly!

The best way to "catch" a butterfly is to raise it from the caterpillar stage. Then when the butterfly hatches you can observe it and let it go. Keeping caterpillars and butterflies, like any pet, requires lots of care and responsibility. Many people prefer to watch butterflies with binoculars or even take pictures in nature.

Why are the wings so delicate?
Butterfly wings are made of thin layers of "chitin" (the same hardened protein that makes up their outside body). The wings have to be strong enough to support the body in the air, but still flexible enough for flight movements. They're covered with thousands of tiny scales give their wings color. The wings are strengthened by a system of veins. If the veins become damaged they cannot fly.

Do caterpillars have teeth?
Yes, caterpillars have side-to-side chewing jaws called mandibles. These are lined with teeth to grind the leaves that they eat. Butterflies do not need teeth because they only drink liquid.

Are butterflies poisonous?
Some butterflies, like the Monarch and Pipevine Swallowtail, eat poisonous plants as caterpillars and are poisonous themselves as adult butterflies. Birds learn not to eat them. Often they have a lot of orange on their bodies. Other good-tasting butterflies (called "mimics") resemble them as an adaptation to protect themselves.

Where do butterflies go at night and when it rains?
Butterflies hide. Some go under large leaves, some crawl down into into dense bushes or under rocks, some just sit in the open with wings held tightly together. If the rain is exceptionally hard or long the butterfly may become permanently tattered or even die.

Do caterpillars and butterflies have ears?
They do not have ears. Some moths do, but they are not easily seen. Caterpillars and butterflies do, however, feel the vibrations from sound. If you touch your hand over your throat while talking you can feel this vibration the way caterpillars do.

How do butterflies fly?
Butterflies have strong muscles in their thorax which force their wings up and down. They actually go in a slanted figure 8 motion that propels them forward.

Why do caterpillars turn into butterflies?
Caterpillars are the eating and growing stage for the butterfly, but they can't mate and reproduce. The adult butterfly is both the mating and egg-laying stage of the insect. Some butterflies (like the Monarch) travel long distances to find food and escape freezing winters. The Monarchs go from all over the new England states through the south east (some stopping near my parents at the Saint Marks Lighthouse) and OVER THE GULF all the way to Mexico. The caterpillar may not survive winters up north otherwise...

Can butterflies talk to each other?
Butterflies do not "talk." Butterflies communicate with each other by color, chemicals, sound, and physical actions. Color patterns often signal their sex or species to each other. Chemical pheromones are used to attract mates and signal species to other butterflies. I explained chemical pheromones to the kids as like when they sweat (?).

A few butterflies make clicking sounds (male "Hamadryas") to protect their space. Other butterflies communicate their space with aggressive flight or stances. Some chrysalids make clicking sounds to attract ants that help protect them. Other caterpillars eat sugary leaves which help to attract ants to them to help protect them.

How fast can butterflies fly? How high can they fly?
Some of the fastest flyers can go up to 30 mph. A slower butterfly might travel at about 5 mph. I suggested the kids write the numbers down so their parents can show them how fast that was in a car. Their parents probably think I'm crazy....

I'm not exactly sure how high butterflies can fly. During fall migrations Monarch have been seen flying by tall buildings like the Empire State Building at 1000+ feet. Some butterflies are picked up by storm fronts and moved 100's of miles at very high altitudes.

How did you hang the chrysalids?
Any chrysalis in a cup needed to be placed into a fly cage before the butterfly emerged so it had enough room to spread it's wings. I CAREFULLY handled the chrysalids and attached them to a stick or piece of string hung across the fly cage with a dab of Elmer's glue. This was recommended by my "experts in the science department" who have been doing this for a long time. This was my VERY LEAST favorite part of the whole process. You can only handle them if you know what you're doing. If the vein in the wing is broken, the butterfly will be forever flightless. Internal organs can also be damaged.

Do butterflies have hearts? Do they have brains?
Yes they do (like all other insects)! The butterflies' heart runs the length of it's body on the upper side. The brain is in it's head.

Do butterflies sleep?
Butterflies do not sleep like us. First of all, they always have their eyes open since they have no eyelids. They do not dream or snore. Really they just become inactive for short periods. Usually this coincides with colder temperatures, when it's cloudy, or at night.

How do they "know" when to make a chrysalis?
Caterpillars have a chemical called "juvenile hormone" in their bodies that is made by their brain. Whenever a caterpillar sheds its skin and the hormone level is high it goes to the next caterpillar stage. When the level is low it finds a place to make a chrysalis.

How long do butterflies live?
Painted Ladies live about two weeks as butterflies. Different species live different amounts of time. An average life span is two weeks or less. One butterfly in Costa Rica has a life expectancy of about 2 days! No adult butterfly can live longer than a year. The Mourning Cloak hatch in early spring and live almost a year. They become inactive over the winter and then mate the following spring. Monarchs live about a month in the summer, but the ones that migrate to Mexico may live up to 6 months!

The Calendar

We're keeping a calendar to record all the changes the caterpillars go through in becoming butterflies! The kids are also recording their 'noticings' in Butterfly Journals.

What's going on in there?

My kids made it *clear* that they needed to know more about what was going on in the chrysalis. They've had so many questions that I was actually asked to "do some more research" by one little bugger...I thought I was the only one who could give homework!!!

Like I said before, no one really knows HOW these changes happen, but I'll do my best to describe WHAT is changing.

In metamorphosis, the mouth part of the Painted Lady has to change to adapt to new food sources. The caterpillars eat leafy foods with side-to-side chewing jaws called mandibles (kind of like our up-and-down chewers). Butterflies eat liquid nectar from within a flower. Their mouth is a long straw-like tube, called a proboscis. The proboscis usually stays coiled up until they are ready to eat.
The ONE exception to these eating habits in North America is the "Harvester" butterfly. The Harvesters they lay their eggs in the midst of woolly aphids. When they hatch the caterpillar eats the other bugs up. As butterflies, they use their short proboscis to pierce the bodies of the woolly aphids and drink their fluids. This is the only butterfly that is not vegetarian!

Our butterflies will eat any kind of nectar, sugar-water, honey-water, or the juice from fresh fruit. When observing a butterfly eat you often see them walking on their food. They actually taste it this way! Their taste buds are found in their second and third pair of feet! Also you see their antennae moving around and touching things. This is how they smell and feel.

Butterflies, like caterpillars, see with their eyes. That's where the similarities stop. A caterpillar has "simple eyes" that can only distinguish between light and dark. A butterfly has "compound eyes" like us, but they have a lot more lenses. They also see ultraviolet light that we can't. People have 2 compound eyes with 2 round lenses. Butterflies have 2 compound eyes with lots and lots of hexagonal lenses (think disco ball). Despite the many "viewers," their brain (like ours) processes what they see into one picture. In fact, a butterfly can see 344 degrees around him or herself. They can almost see around their entire body! That should give you a little clue as to their place in the Food Chain...low, very low. But the butterflies' eyes and antennae give it the ability to find food, recognize a mate, and find "host plants" to lay eggs on.

Butterflies still have 6 six legs like other insects, however, only 4 legs can be see without a magnifying glass. The second and third pairs of feet are the ones that they taste with. Butterflies also have the three main parts that all insects have (a head, a thorax, and an abdomen).

They have a set of 4 wings. The wings protect the butterfly in two ways: by giving it an escape from predators and by camouflaging it. The underside of Painted Lady wings have more muted colors like white, brown, tan, black, blue, and purple. The top side is more vivid with white, orange, black, and brown. The most important color on the butterfly is orange. Orange (more than any other color) is found in nature to be a big warning for "danger." These guys are well adapted!

You can see pictures of Painted Lady butterfly here.

More chrysalis photos...

You can see the beginnings of a wing forming on the right side.Notice the gold flecks in the chrysalis, and the piece of silk still hanging down.

Also notice the fuzzy caterpillar skin left at the top of the chrysalis.

Despite all the twigs and sticks, some of the caterpillars preferred to make their chrysalis on the top of the box... all in a little group!

From Caterpillar to Chrysalis

Consider for a second the amazing and mysterious transformation that happens next to my little caterpillars!!

Metamorphosis is "the marked developmental changes in the form or structure of an animal as it matures." In other words, the body of the young is in a completely different form than the body of the adult. Butterflies go through what is known as "complete metamorphosis," a life cycle consisting of all four stages (unlike frogs which only have 3 stages). The time frame for the whole process is about 19 to 28 days depending mostly on the temperature. Warmer weather lends to faster development. On a rare occasion, a chrysalis can actually be suspended in development during winter and emerge when the temperatures go back up.

The Four Stages

• The Egg
  The Painted Lady egg is blue-green and tiny. An adult butterfly lays 500 eggs at a time on "Host Plants." The caterpillars hatch 3 to 5 days later.
  
  
• The Larva (Caterpillar)
  Caterpillars LIVE TO EAT! They shed their exoskeleton about 5 times to accommodate their growing bodies. This stage last about 12 to 18 days. The last few days you see the caterpillar crawl up and hang down in a shape like the letter J as they prepare the make their chrysalis.
  
  Above is a picture of the caterpillars a couple days after they arrived.
  Below is about a week later.
  
  
  Just a little tid-bit... caterpillars look like they have lots of legs. This is mostly an illusion. They have 6 true legs (like most other insects) and then a bunch of false legs called "Prolegs" to help support them. The false legs disappear when they become butterflies.
  You can see their little legs...and if you look closely there is silk throughout the cup.
  
  
• The Pupa (Chrysalis)
  The caterpillar encases itself in a shiny, hard, silk covering and hangs nearly motionless for about a week. It is at this time, I have to take all the chrysalids in the cups and hang them in a fly cage. Yes, that means I have to touch them! They recommend you hang them with Elmers Glue...all you paste-eaters should be comforted by that!
  
  Not the cutest stage...
  
  This caterpillar is partially through making his chrysalis.
  You can see the top part still looks a bit like a caterpillar. You can also see the red frass.
  
  
  The name "chrysalis" literally means gold, because they always have little gold flecks. It's hard to see in the pictures. It goes through remarkable changes in this stage, although no one really knows how changes these take place. You begin to see the formation of the butterfly through the chrysalis...two circles where the compound eyes are forming and a long thin line between them which will eventually be the proboscis. A few hours before the butterfly emerges, it turns really dark and YOU CAN ACTUALLY SEE THE WING MARKINGS THROUGH THE CHRYSALIS CASING! I hope to get some pictures of this upcoming...
  
  
• The Adult (Butterfly)
  It emerges as a winged butterfly that lives for around 2 weeks. It feeds on the nectar of "Feeder Plants" with it's proboscis (straw-like mouth). It mates as early as the second or third day after it emerges and lays eggs for several days. That means I could have a second generation if I put "Host Plants" in their habitat...