Butterfly
From the Simple English Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia that anyone can change
| Butterflies | ||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 Male Cairns Birdwing, the largest butterfly in Australia (Melbourne Zoo).
|
||||||||||
| Scientific classification | ||||||||||
|
A butterfly is an insect. It is closely related to the moth. Most butterflies are colourful. Butterfly watching is a popular hobby.
As with most insects, a butterfly's life begins as an egg. Then it hatches into a larva (caterpillar). After some time, the larva turns into a chrysalis (like a cocoon). While it is in the chrysalis, it becomes a butterfly. The butterfly then hatches out and lays more eggs. Butterflies have very short life spans that last about a week.
[change] Survival
Butterflies are in trouble because of habitat loss. They have fewer places to live than they used to have. To help, some people plant a butterfly garden with flowers having lots of nectar for a good place to rest.
Butterflies also have many enemies, for example ants, birds, spiders, and frogs. Jays are very common predators for butterflies.
[change] More images
 |
 |
[change] See also
- Differences between butterflies and moths
- F. Nemos: Europas bekannteste Schmetterlinge. Beschreibung der wichtigsten Arten und Anleitung zur Kenntnis und zum Sammeln der Schmetterlinge und Raupen. Oestergaard Verlag, Berlin, ca. 1895, http://hdl.handle.net/10013/epic.28790.d001 (pdf, 77 MB).
