They range in size from a tiny 1/8 inch to a huge almost 12 inches. There are about 24,000 species of butterflies. The moths are even more numerous: about 140,000 species of them were counted all over the world.

A butterfly’s lifecycle is made up of four parts, egg, larva (caterpillars), pupa (chrysalis) and adult. Butterflies attach their eggs to leaves with a special glue.

Most caterpillars are plant eaters (herbivores). Fully grown caterpillars attach themselves to a suitable twig or leaf before shedding their outter layer of skin to reveal a hard skin underneath, known as chrysalis.

An adult butterfly will eventually emerge from the chrysalis where it will wait a few hours for its wings to fill with blood and dry, before flying for the first time. Butterflies can live in the adult stage from anywhere between a week and a year, depending on the species. Butterflies have four wings that are often brightly coloured with unique patterns made up of tiny scales.

Most butterflies feed on nectar from flowers. Butterflies taste receptors are on their feet and to lay eggs they sit on a leaf to see if it would be good enough for their caterpillars to eat or not.

Birdwing butterflies have large, angular wings and fly in a similar way to birds. Butterflies can only fly if their body temperature is above 86 degrees. Butterflies sun themselves to warm up in cool weather. As butterflies age, the colour of the wings fades and the wings become ragged.

The speed varies among butterfly species (the poisonous varieties are slower than non-poisonous varieties). The fastest butterflies (some skippers) can fly at about 30 mile per hour or faster. Slow flying butterflies fly about 5 mph.

Monarch butterflies are known for their long migration. Every year monarch butterflies travel a great distance (sometimes over 4000 km), females lay eggs and a new generation of monarchs travel back, completing the cycle. Monarch butterflies journey from the Great Lakes to the Gulf of Mexico, a distance of about 2,000 miles, and return to the north again in the spring.

Butterflies are fragile and almost defenceless creatures. They rely on a variety of strategies to protect themselves from hungry predators. Their predators include birds, spiders, reptiles, other insects (e.g., wasps, flies and mites), and small mammals. Most butterflies and moth protect themselves from predators by using camouflage. Some butterflies and moths blend into their environment so well that is it almost impossible to spot them when they are resting on a branch. Some butterflies look like dead leaves (like the Indian leaf butterfly), others look like the bark of a tree (e.g., the carpenter moth).

Some butterflies are poisonous. When a predator, like a bird, eats one of these butterflies it becomes sick, vomits violently and quickly learns not to eat this type of butterfly. The Goliath Birdwing is a brightly coloured poisonous butterfly from Indonesia. Many poisonous species have similar markings (warning patterns). Some poisonous butterflies include the Monarch (which eats the milkweed plant to become poisonous), the Small Postman butterfly and the Pipevine swallowtail.— Compiled by The Surfer