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Have you ever sat out in the yard or visited a garden and just watched the flowers and suddenly one appears to move? The colors start bouncing from flower to flower, fluttering around, adding even more life to the outdoors. Time to take time to ponder the amazing butterfly!

Butterflies are some truly beautiful little creatures found all around the world that complement the flowers growing in most gardens. Unfortunately, most people only see this beauty and never realize that butterflies are fascinating in many other ways as well. As one learns as a child, a baby butterfly is a caterpillar and when they become a butterfly they don't change size.

But from having worked with these insects, I have found that there are some other amazing Butterfly Facts to ponder! Did you know:

1. 11 out of 12 butterflies are males! Some female butterflies only live less than a day and have no mouth parts as an adult! They come out of their cocoon, breed, lay eggs, and die! Lots of males are needed to see that this happens and most spend their entire lives pollinating flowers.

2. Butterflies are the native pollinators in most places! That is correct; honey bees were brought in by humans as they are more efficient and we can eat the honey. If honey bees disappear, there will likely be a surge in butterflies.

3. Butterfly eggs, the size of a pinhead, are usually laid on a specific species of plant; that is the only thing their caterpillar can feed on! That type of plant often contains specific nutrients that the butterfly needs. A Monarch Butterfly needs the toxins from the Asclepius family, but there are a wide range of those plants. This is important as, while the adults can pollinate anything, the caterpillars don't destroy crops; those are grubs and likely from beetles or moths.

4. Butterflies migrate over water between islands! The frequently ride the jet stream or prevailing winds. The White Spot Butterfly flies all the way from Africa to the Caribbean, taking several days without food or fresh water! Ironically only the males make the trip (Those short lived females from fact one) and live a few weeks as lonely bachelors!

5. The Monarch does not have the longest average life expectancy for a butterfly; that distinction goes to the Heliconid butterfly in the Caribbean (Locally known as a Zebra, but not the Zebra Swallowtail). Monarchs live very short lives in the spring and summer, average life expectancy is based upon 10 generations. While the Monarch can live for 8 months, it averages 28 days; Caribbean Zebras average 11 months and can last up to 18!

6. Butterflies can be as tiny as inch Skipper Butterflies (named because they skip from plant to plant) on up to almost 5 inches across for the giant Morpho Butterfly from South America.

7. Some butterflies are territorial! Both the Zebra and those little Skippers will stay in the same area their entire lives and actually try to drive others away.

These are just a few of the points to ponder when seeing that most amazing of insects, the butterfly! Watch them in wonder, but do take time to ponder the amazing butterfly.

Learn more about this author, James Johnson.
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