We need butterflies

Butterflies are a good indicator species of the health of the environment, for the butterfly and its earlier incarnation as caterpillar, feed on very specific plants and vegetation, explains John Calvert, the director of the Stratford Butterfly Farm in the United Kingdom.

Different butterflies eat different kinds of plant nectars. In exchange for its daily sustenance, the butterfly will then transfer pollen which sticks to its wings and tongue to other plants, facilitating cross-pollination and subsequent fertilization so the plant can then produce more seeds. And so, the plants then remain in our parks, gardens and forests.

If a specific species is in decline it is because its plant food is too, noted Mr. Calvert, whose organisation breeds butterflies in captivity and develops programmes to protect them in the wild.

Loss of habitat and food are today putting these marvellous insects under threat. Intensive agriculture,
deforestation, and drainage of wetlands have all contributed to the decline of butterflies and moths.

The careful caterpillar

Caterpillars are soft and slow moving, but they must survive, although they are easily preyed upon by birds and other animals. So out in the wilds of jungle, forest, hedgerow or marsh, caterpillars have
developed artful methods of protection. Some are poisonous.

Others are great camouflage artists blending into the background. Others develop markings that look like eyes so they seem to be another, larger animal, like a snake. And some just taste so bad the birds leave them alone, said Mr. Calvert. And they love to eat greens.

Caterpillars are capable of dining through several plants in their short lifetime of two weeks to one month. Their jaws, mandibles, are as sharp as razors. Their goal in life is to grow.

The miracle of metamorphosis

Butterflies undergo a fascinating process of complete metamorphosis. The beautiful butterfly is the culmination of a complex, fascinating life, which consists of four stages: egg, caterpillar, pupa or chrysalis and then butterfly or moth.

It is during the caterpillar or larvae stage that the creature will feed continually to increase its size by ten or twenty fold, forcing the insect to shed its skin several times.

During the pupa or chrysalis stage when it hangs itself generally from a branch or leaf, its internal organs will turn into liquid and then be reformed into a butterfly. This is a cycle of complete metamorphosis.

These are creatures that know how to girdle themselves in silk. In the wild, spinning a small pad of silk, it will simply fasten itself on to the chosen place, usually a plant or a tree, while its organs are turned into liquid.

Here is the last phase of the mesmerizing method of total metamorphosis as the coloured wings, eyes and bodies will begin to glimmer through the casing and then the adult emerges, slowly pumping blood into its wings, neither too quickly nor too slowly.