19th June: Butterfly Day

19th June is Butterfly Day, so here are 10 things you may not know about butterflies:

1. Butterflies are found on every continent on Earth - except for Antarctica.
2. Butterflies can taste with their feet. They do this by drumming the surface they are standing on (usually a leaf or a piece of fruit) with their feet to release the plant's juices. Butterflies have chemo-receptors on the backs of their legs, and can tell whether what they are standing on is good to eat, either for themselves or for their caterpillars.
3. Caterpillars will munch away at leaves, but adult butterflies can only consume liquids. Mostly nectar, but they will sometimes drink from muddy puddles to get salts and minerals. Males will do this more often than females as they need extra nutrients for sperm production.
4. Butterflies remember things that they learned as caterpillars.
5. They cannot fly when it is cold. If the air temperature falls below 55ºF, they are pretty much stuffed unless they can exercise their wings by shivering, or bask in sunlight. They use their wings like little solar panels, angling them to maximise the amount of heat they absorb.
6. Butterflies can only see clearly up to 12 feet. Within that distance, though, they have good eyesight. They can see some of the colours that we can - red, Green and Yellow. They can also see some that we can't, in the ultraviolet range. Since butterflies have ultraviolet markings on their wings, and flowers also have them, this is a great help to the butterfly when looking for food or a mate.
7. Straight out of the chrysalis, a butterfly cannot fly or eat. Its proboscis is in two parts when it emerges, so the butterfly's first task is to assemble its mouth parts and make sure they are in working order. Then it must wait for its wings to dry out and fill with blood before it can fly.
8. The fastest butterflies fly at 12 miles an hour.
9. Monarch butterflies fly great distances - they migrate every year from the Great Lakes to the Gulf of Mexico, a distance of about 2,000 miles, and back again in the spring.
10. Pacific Grove, California, calls itself "Butterfly Town" and holds a butterfly parade every year. It is against the law to kill a Monarch butterfly there. If you do, there's a $500 fine.