Myth: Totoo bang nakakabulag ang butterfly?
Sagot: Hindi! Ito ay tanging kasabihan/panakot lamang ng mga matatanda upang hindi hulihin ng mga bata ang mga paru paro. Tanging butterfly ng higad ang may tendency na magbigay ng kati or allergy sa tao.
Sa totoo lang, pag-ibig ang nakakabulag! ;)
Tanong: Nakakatulong ba ang butterfly release sa pagpaparami ng butterfly?
Sagot: OO! Sa wild, tanging 2% lang ng butterfly egg ang nagiging butterfly dahil sa dami ng predator nila, mula sa mga insekto katulad ng nik nik at mga langgam, hanggang sa mga ibon, butiki o lizard at marami pang klase ng hayop. Bukod pa ang klima at masamang panahon tulad ng ulan, bagyo, malakas na hangin, tag araw at kakulangan sa pagkain.
Samantalang ang mga butterfly farm, kagaya ng sa butterfly capital ng Pilipinas, ang probinsya ng Marinduque, sagana ang pagkain at halaman ng butterfly at caterpillar aabot sa halos isandaang klase ng halaman at bulaklak ang inaalagaan na pagkain nila. Aabot sa halos 90% ng butterfly eggs ang nakakasurvive at nagiging healthy o A1 class na butterfly at pupa. Hindi madaling alagaan ang eggs at caterpillar, kailangang sobrang linis ng paligid at lalo nang sagana sa dahon at pagkain. Sobrang takaw nila.
Kaya, sinisigurado namin bilang taga-supply ng butterfly for release on occasions like wedding, debuts or anniversary na irerelease sila sa tamang lugar lamang na may pagkain at shelter sa paligid. Tanging Idea Leuconoe ang inirerelease dahil sila ang pinaka-friendly sa tao at mataas ang survival rate upang higit pang magparami ng lahi.
Myth — Only half of the butterflies will survive up to the time of the release.
Fact —Your butterflies are handled and packed in such a way to protect them and make sure that they will survive the journey. Extra butterflies are usually included just in case a couple would not survive.
Myth - They will not fly and people will step on them.
Fact — If you do a release properly, you will have a lovely release experience.
Myth — Butterfly releases are cruel to the butterfly.
Fact — The butterflies are raised and handled with the best of care. The butterflies are only sent to environments that they already exist in. After a release, the butterflies will live the rest of their natural lives in the wild.
Myth — The butterflies will have nothing to eat and will die.
Fact — Again, talk to your butterfly farmer about the proper times to release butterflies. If butterflies are released in the summertime, there are plenty of nectar flowers around for them to survive on. Some butterflies even nectar on fruit and tree sap. You do not want to try to release them in the middle of the winter. Use common sense.
Lifespan: The average lifespan for an adult butterfly is 20 to 40 days. Some species live no longer than three or four days; others may live up to six months.
Like other insects, butterflies have a hard exoskeleton, three pairs of jointed legs, antennae, compound eyes and three main body parts: head, thorax and abdomen. On the head are the eyes, antennae and proboscis – the long, flexible "tongue" used to sip nectar and other liquids. The thorax is the point of attachment for the two pairs of wings, forewings and hindwings. The abdomen contains the reproductive and other vital organs.
Diet
A caterpillar’s first meal is its own eggshell. It then spends most of its time eating the leaves of the plant on which it hatched. An adult butterfly uncoils its long, straw-like proboscis to sip nectar from flowers, juice from rotting fruit and water from puddles.
Population
Exact numbers are not known since there are about 17,500 species of butterflies spread throughout almost the entire world.
Did You Know?
Antarctica is the only continent on which no butterflies have been found.
Range
Butterflies are found worldwide except on the continent of Antarctica. Many species migrate to avoid adverse conditions. Most migrate relatively short distances, but monarchs and several other species migrate thousands of miles.
Behavior
Life cycle: From egg to adult, butterflies undergo a series of physical transformations known as metamorphosis. After mating, the female butterfly lays her eggs on a caterpillar food or “host” plant. The eggs can hatch within a few days, or within months or even years, depending on whether or not conditions are right.
Did You Know?
If a human baby weighed 7 pounds at birth and grew at the same rate as a caterpillar, it would weigh 189,000 pounds when fully grown!
After hatching, a caterpillar begins to eat the host plant. The caterpillar sheds its skin several times during this stage. It then seeks a sheltered spot, suspends itself by silken threads and sheds one last time to reveal skin that will harden to form the chrysalis or pupa. Days, months or even years later, depending on the species, a fully developed winged adult emerges from the chrysalis and the cycle begins anew.
Defense Mechanisms: Many butterflies have developed interesting ways of defending themselves from predators. One method is disguise, or “cryptic coloration”, where the butterfly has the ability to look like a leaf or blend into the bark of a tree to hide from predators. Another method is chemical defense, where the butterfly has evolved to have toxic chemicals in its body. These species of butterfly are often brightly colored, and predators have learned over time to associate their bright color with the bad taste of the chemicals.
Climate Change and Other Threats
The greatest threats to butterflies are habitat change and loss due to residential, commercial and agricultural development. Climate change is also threatening species of butterfly. The Edith’s checkerspot butterfly, which ranges from Baja to Canada along the West Coast, has been moving northward and upslope. But for two subspecies – the Bay and Quino— their progress is blocked by the vast urban landcapes of San Francisco and San Diego, respectively. Both subspecies are now critically imperiled.
Other Fun Facts:
- Butterflies range in size from a tiny 1/8 inch to a huge almost 12 inches.
- Butterflies can see red, green, and yellow.
- Some people say that when the black bands on the Woolybear caterpillar are wide, a cold winter is coming.
- The top butterfly flight speed is 12 miles per hour. Some moths can fly 25 miles per hour!
- 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 cannot fly if their body temperature is less than 86 degrees.
- Representations of butterflies are seen in Egyptian frescoes at Thebes, which are 3,500 years old.
- Antarctica is the only continent on which no Lepidoptera have been found.
- 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.
- The Brimstone butterfly (Gonepterix rhamni) has the longest lifetime of the adult butterflies: 9-10 months.
- Some Case Moth caterpillars (Psychidae) build a case around themselves that they always carry with them. It is made of silk and pieces of plants or soil.
- The caterpillars of some Snout Moths (Pyralididae) live in or on water-plants.
- The females of some moth species lack wings, all they can do to move is crawl.
- The Morgan's Sphinx Moth from Madagascar has a proboscis (tube mouth) that is 12 to 14 inches long to get the nectar from the bottom of a 12 inch deep orchid discovered by Charles Darwin.
- Some moths never eat anything as adults because they don't have mouths. They must live on the energy they stored as caterpillars.
- Many butterflies can taste with their feet to find out whether the leaf they sit on is good to lay eggs on to be their caterpillars' food or not.
