Critter Guide :: Insects & Arachnids :: Butterfly There are four parts to the lifecycle of a butterfly. It starts as an egg, which hatches into a larva, or caterpillar. The caterpillar eats a lot in order to grow quickly -- it can grow up to 27,000 times its original size by the time it hatches! Soon, it sheds its skin to become a pupa, inside of a hard shell called a chrysalis. After a few weeks, a butterfly comes out of the chrysalis and searches for a mate. Butterflies don't grow; they come out of the chrysalis at their adult size and weigh about the same as two flower petals. Butterflies only live an average of two weeks; some live for just a few days. Butterflies are especially important to scientists, who have found that studying them helps us understand how humans disturb the environment. Where do they live? Butterflies live all over the world, except for Antarctica. Some species migrate hundreds of miles from their original homes. What do they eat? By the time a caterpillar has become a butterfly, it has already stocked up on enough food and doesn't eat much other than nectar from fruit and plants. Many butterflies taste with their feet; they have no mouths, just straw-like structures that help them drink nectar. Critter Fact Butterfly wings are made up of many scales stacked like shingles on a roof. Did You Know? Butterflies don't produce waste. The only thing they will excrete is a stream of liquid every once in a while that is almost entirely made up of pure water. Related Episodes Alien Empire http://www.pbs.org/wnet/nature/alienempire/ The Body Changers http://www.pbs.org/wnet/nature/bodychangers Earth Navigators http://www.pbs.org/wnet/nature/navigators

© 2005 Educational Broadcasting Corporation. All rights reserved. close window