Butterflies

Alex Re

Hello, welcome to on wildlife. I'm your host, Alex Re. On this podcast, we bring the wild to you, we take you on a journey into the life of a different animal every week. And I guarantee you, you're gonna come out of here knowing more about your favorite animal than you did before. This is going to be another awesome episode. Today, we're going to be taking a close look at some insects with some of the most amazing patterns you can see in nature. Butterflies.

Unknown Speaker

There are over 17,000 different species of butterfly, meaning that they're extremely diverse. And they belong to the group lepidoptera, which literally means scaly wings in Greek moths are also a part of this group. They're called this because the patterns that butterflies have are made up of scales. And these scales are composed of a substance called cotton, which is also found in the shells of a lot of different shellfish. And they're found almost everywhere in the world. It's thought that they first evolved around 65 million years ago, which is about as old as the dinosaurs. And throughout history, butterflies have had a lot of representation in different cultures. A lot of cultures use the butterfly to symbolize the soul. And they can also be used as a symbol of beauty or freedom. As you probably know, butterflies are in the adult stage of their lifecycle, the younger form being a caterpillar, and there's actually four different stages to a butterfly's lifecycle. First there's the egg. Then second is the larva, which is the caterpillar. Third is the pupa which is the resting stage. And the fourth is the adult which is the butterfly. And when a caterpillar transforms into a butterfly, it's known as metamorphosis. Basically what happens in metamorphosis, is the caterpillar hangs from a tree and molds into something called a chrysalis. And contrary to popular belief, butterflies don't make a cocoon. That's for moths, they make a chrysalis instead, the chrysalis is made out of a hard exoskeleton, while a cocoon is usually made out of silk. Once in the chrysalis, the caterpillar releases enzymes and it basically digests itself. Although some cells are able to survive the process. The cells that survive are the ones that divide and help to build a butterfly. This process can take weeks to months, or even years depending on the conditions. It comes out of the chrysalis looking completely different from its younger form. Beauty is pain. When you compare the diets of a caterpillar versus a butterfly, you'll notice that they're completely different. The first thing a caterpillar eats is its own shell and it has really strong mandibles to chew with. And they spend most of their time just eating leaves getting ready for metamorphosis. Some caterpillars, such as the juvenile harvester butterfly are carnivorous. Their favorite snacks are aphids, which are small insects. Unfortunately, caterpillars can't really go far to find their food, but butterflies are able to cover a much wider area because they can fly and butterflies have a completely different diet. They use a tongue like structure called a proboscis to sip up their food. And they don't have mandibles shoe leaves like caterpillars do. The proboscis extends when it needs to sip up its food and then coils up when it's not being used. nectar from flowers are the main source of food for butterflies, although some have really weird taste. Some butterflies such as the purple Emperor butterfly, like to sip up the juices from rotting flesh. pretty creepy. But the butterflies need for nectar from flowers is extremely important when it comes to pollination. But we'll get to that later on in the episode. Aside from nectar, a lot of butterflies like to drink from puddles and wet soil. And when they do this, they're getting more than just water. They're getting a lot of nutrients. This process is called puddling. And it's almost always done more frequently by males. And this actually helps the males strengthen their reproductive success, because when they mate, they're able to transfer those nutrients that they got from the puddles to the female. Okay, we're gonna take our first little break, and when we get back, I'm going to start talking about butterfly wings. It's trivia time. What kind of animal is a Bongo? A a bird? Be an antelope?

Alex Re

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Unknown Speaker

a fish or D a lizard? The answer is Be an antelope. Alright, we're back. And before we get into butterfly wings, I wanted to talk a little bit about how they're able to regulate their body temperature. butterflies are ectotherms, meaning that they rely on their environment in order to regulate their body temperature, because they can't do it for themselves, like humans can. They need warm temperatures in order to fly, and it's really important for them to keep their wing muscles warm. Their optimal temperature for flying is around 70 degrees Fahrenheit. And this is why basking is a really important behavior for them. They bask in the sun so that their body temperature increases, especially if it's really cold outside. They can also move their wings in specific positions in order to make sure that they're not getting too much heat exposure. And the color of their wings actually matters when it comes to temperatures. Butterflies that have lighter colored wings have a better time managing the heat of the sun, because it reflects more light than darker colors, and not only is basking a really important behavior, but butterflies can also shiver in order to keep their wings warm. Speaking of wings, butterflies have two wings on each side of their body called the four wings and the hind wings. And these wings are attached to the thorax, which is like the middle segment of their body. And they actually move in a figure eight motion when they're flying. As I mentioned before, their wings have scales made out of cotton that create that beautiful pattern that we see. The pattern of their wings isn't just meant for picture taking, it's important for the survival of the butterfly. For a lot of butterflies, wings are used as a form of camouflage. Butterflies have a lot of predators, maybe the most common being birds. When their wings have a similar pattern as a tree or a leaf that they're on. It helps them blend in with their environment, making it harder for predators to see them. But some butterflies like the monarch butterfly like to stand out. It has a really vibrant and identifiable pattern that doesn't blend in much. The Monarch caterpillars only eat one type of plant called milkweed. And this plant happens to be toxic. By eating this plant. They are now toxic to other animals. And this coloration tells predators to steer clear, but another butterfly called the viceroy is also colored to look almost identical to the monarch butterfly, even though it isn't toxic. This is what we call beats in mimicry, where a non toxic or dangerous organism copies the pattern of a toxic one to fool predators into not eating them. Male butterflies also have sent scales or Andrew Konya, the scales on their wings can release chemical signals called pheromones. These pheromones attract female butterflies for mating, and they usually pick up this smell using their antenna. Butterflies also have some other cool ways that they sense the world around them. For example, butterflies have sensory organs on their feet. These organs can sense different chemicals when they're touching the surface. And they use the sense in order to determine if something is good enough to eat. Not only that, but they have really interesting eyesight. Two, they have compound eyes, meaning that they have around 17,000 tiny eyes that each have their own cones and a rod. Humans also have cones and rods and our eyes. cones detect color. Humans can only detect three different colors red, blue, and yellow. And that's what we call the primary colors. And different combinations and shades of these colors make up all the colors we see in the world around us. butterflies are a little different. They can see up to nine different colors, including ultraviolet light, which the human eye can't see without the help of a blacklight. And flowers actually have ultraviolet patterns on them that we can't see. These are like a bull's eye for butterflies. And it basically directs them right towards where the nectar is. This is a result of CO evolution. flowers and butterflies have basically evolved together. Butterflies evolved to see ultraviolet light and flowers evolved to have an ultraviolet pattern on them to entice the butterfly so that it gets pollinated. Pretty cool stuff. Okay, we're gonna take our last break. And when we get back, I'm going to talk about butterfly conservation.

Unknown Speaker

If you want more information about butterflies, or you just want to suggest a new animal for me to talk about, you can email on wildlife dot podcast@gmail.com You can also visit our website@www.on wildlife.org Alright, we're back We already talked about the butterfly lifecycle. But now I want to take a closer look at butterfly mating. In order to meet male butterflies usually have two different strategies depending on their species. Some males will do something called patrolling, where they'll fly over a large area in search of a female. Other species will perch on a specific area waiting for females to fly by them. The males that perch are usually territorial over their area, and we'll make sure that no other males are perched in that area. And because it might be hard to determine if the female is of the same species, the male will usually release his pheromones while flying near the female. They'll also do a little dance to attract the females when flying, and the female joins in if she wants to mate with him. Male butterflies usually die around seven weeks after they mate. So aside from being one of the most beautiful creatures in an ecosystem, they're also extremely important for keeping that ecosystem intact. As I mentioned before, a lot of birds and other predators rely on them for food. Without them, a major food source would be gone and many birds would die out. They're also great pollinators because their main food source is nectar. When they land on a flower to drink the nectar, they're also taking the pollen of that flower with them to the next flower which fertilizes that flower. This is what many plants rely on in order to reproduce. So not only are they important for supporting bird populations, but they along with bees and other insects are responsible for keeping plant populations up. And they're also important for economic reasons. Butterflies bring in 1000s of tourists every year to developing countries. And this tourism helps the economy of surrounding communities. For example, He Gwangju National Park in Brazil is known for its butterflies and it brings in over $30 million every year. There are also an important indicator species for scientists to determine how well an ecosystem is doing and if it's being impacted by climate change. This is important because butterflies are extremely sensitive to change in their environment. Think back to when I was talking about how the temperature needs to be perfect for them to fly. One of the largest problems facing butterflies and practically every other animal is habitat loss. For example, monarch butterfly numbers are significantly decreasing. Remember how I was talking about how the caterpillar only eats milkweed this is an issue because milkweed is slowly declining. And they won't eat anything else so they'll starve. We can help by planting milkweed and other types of plants that butterflies are attracted to in our backyards and also supporting organizations that are helping butterflies right now. Some organizations to take a look at our the North American butterfly Association, save our monarchs and butterfly conservation. Thank you so much for coming on this adventure with me as we explored the world of the butterfly. You can find the sources that we used for this episode, and links to organizations that we referenced@www.on wildlife.org Don't forget to join us next Wednesday for another episode. And that's on wildlife.

Jess Avellino

You've been listening to on wildlife with Alex Re brought to you every Wednesday.

Transcribed by https://otter.ai