Butterflies, Oh, Butterflies

Photo found here

I was not impressed with Evan's chapter about butterflies in his book we were supposed to read for class. Like not impressed in the least bit. There is so much useful and interesting facts that he could have elaborated on to give the "ever day people" reading his book more information on the majestic creatures that most people enjoy seeing, or are not completely freaked out by. To be quite honest, butterflies are probably one of the more liked species of insect around the world. To me they seem majestic and beautiful, and I would not freak out if one landed on me. 

Photo found here

I decided to look at a website on some butterfly facts (find website here). I read some stuff that I mainly already knew, such as how butterflies use camouflage and their coloring as defense mechanisms. They also use chemicals to protect themselves from predators. I found out that a caterpillar's first meal is it's own egg case, which is actually very interesting and not what I figured it would be. It also states that there are about 17,500 species are butterflies, so it is hard to know an exact number of how many there really are. Monarchs and some other species can migrate thousands of miles, while most others migrate short distances, and they live on all continents except for Antarctica. 

Photo found here

I also enjoyed the reading we did out of Laufer's book (chapter 7, found here). I found it rather interesting to find out that butterflies main reason for extinction is habitat loss. This is a sad thing to think about: 50 years ago in most places butterflies were way more abundant. To think that our expansion of technology and building more is destroying their habitats and homes is a very sad thought. This has also set up butterfly gathering/hunting to be illegal in many different parts of the world. People can go to jail for capturing butterflies. The thought never even crossed my mind. "What did you do to land in the big house?" "Just captured a few butterflies.." doesn't seem like a very reasonable answer or even an answer that would be real; when in actuality it is very real. 

All in all, butterflies are the most majestic of insects of me. I would have added them into my first post, but I was not sure if they would even be considered an insect. Good thing I have taken this class and now know that I do, in fact, have a favorite insect.