Butterflies have 2 eyes, but like all insects, their eyes are compound eyes. That’s sort of like each eye being made of thousands of tiny eyes that look in all directions. Then the insects brain puts all the images together into one image. This lets the insect see all around itself without having to move its eyes the way we do. The tradeoff is that, compared to us, the image they get is very blurry.

Most adult butterflies live for around 2-3 weeks. This is of course after a few weeks as a caterpillar and a few weeks as a chrysalis. The length of each stage varies by species.

The Monarch butterfly migrates from the United States to Mexico each year, mainly to avoid cold weather. How do those tiny butterflies make a 3,000 mile journey? Well, when they’re heading North from Mexico,they migrate over the course of several generations. The butterfly that arrives at the end is the great-grandchild (or great-great-grandchild) of the one that started. But when they’re heading South, they birth a “Super Generation” that lives 8 times longer than a regular Monarch butterfly, and are able to make the entire journey by themselves.

Butterflies mainly feed on nectar from flowers. Nectar is a sugary substance that flowers produce in order to attract animals like butterflies, birds, and bees, which spread the flower’s pollen as the animals move from flower to flower. Some butterflies also eat tree sap, rotting fruit, and even animal dung.

Butterflies have colorful wings mainly to ward off predators. For some, like the milkweed butterfly, the bright color signals to predators that they are toxic. For others, like the owl butterfly, their wings look like two giant eyes, which may trick predators into thinking they are face-to-face with a much larger, scarier animal. Other butterflies, like the Indian leaf butterfly, have wings that help them disguise themselves as leaves or twigs.

Yes! Many butterflies have small holes at the base of their wings which are the butterflies ears. And there’s at least one group of butterflies that also have thick veins in their wings that help them hear. And that group includes the Monarch butterfly. So, monarch butterflies use their wings to help them hear!

The fastest butterfly is the Skipper - it can fly at up to 37 mph (60 km/h) - faster than the world’s fastest human!

Butterflies don’t attempt to fly in the rain - they take shelter under branches or piles of wood. They stay in one place, folding their wings and hanging on until the rain stops.

The world’s biggest butterfly is Queen Alexandra’s birdwing. The females can have wingspans up to 27 cm - almost a foot long!