On to the next life cycle…

What is a life cycle?

Series of events that occur over an animal or plant’s lifetime. These are

changes that we can see and identify. These also occur in the

same order every time.

Let’s see what animal is next…

What’s a Butterfly?

• Flying insect with large scaly wings• Like all insects:– Has six jointed-legs– 3 main sections of their body

• Head• Thorax (chest)• Abdomen (tail end)

– A pair of anttenae– An exoskeleton– Compound eyes

• Comes from a caterpillar

Why do they look the way they look?

• They have bright colors, muted colors and/or patterns to: – Find a partner– Recognize others in their species–Warn predators that they taste bad or are

toxic• Some butterflies copy this warning pattern to

protect themselves even if they do not taste bad

– Camouflage– Communication

Important Vocab

• Symmetry:–With butterflies, this means that the

same pattern and colors appear on both wings. The wings are identical.

So, where do butterflies exist?

Here is where the Monarch Butterfly lives:

Do you think Butterflies live anywhere else?

VA’s Butterflies

There are 70 native butterflies to our state.

Butterfly Diet• They can eat anything that will

dissolve in water like flower nectar, sap, pollen, rotting fruit, natural fruit juices– They do this using a proboscis –

their mouth is like a long straw

• Some butterflies can only digest liquids, like the monarch butterfly

• As caterpillars, they eat mostly leaves and other plant parts

Interesting Fact!Butterflies can taste with their feet!

Butterfly Predators

WaspsAntsBirds

SnakesToadsRats

LizardsDragonflies

MonkeysFrogs

spiders

Why the Butterfly?

• We just studied the deer, which is a mammal. The butterfly is another animal, but is an insect. It is important for use to learn about life cycles in both mammals and insects.– Mammals will look like the adult version of the

species throughout the life cycle in most cases– Insects look different at the different stages of

their life cycles

• Butterflies have a very unique life cycle that will give us a look into what other insects are like too