10 Fun & Amazing Facts About Butterflies

Butterflies pack a lot of awesomeness into their tiny little bodies. Take a look below at 10 fun and amazing facts about butterflies that you may not know. These facts are fun to share with children and help them learn more about these amazing creatures. Take a look and be impressed.

1. The smallest butterfly known to exist is about an 1/8 of an inch, smaller than a fingernail. Now that is tiny.

2. The largest butterfly known to exist is about 12 inches in diameter, or the size of a basic dinner plate. Imagine seeing that flying at you!

3. A butterfly may fly over 2000 miles in its lifetime! Now that is a journey! I wonder if they get frequent flyer miles?

4. A butterfly has a fairly short life, living at most 10 months. There are some species that only live a few days.

5. The proboscis is the name of the caterpillar’s tongue. They can be several inches long, sometimes more than 3 times the size of its body.

6. Some butterflies can also taste food with their feet. Can you imagine if humans could do that? Ew!

7. Butterflies have skeletons on the outside of their bodies, so it is called an exoskeleton.

8. When a butterfly emerges from the chrysalis it pumps its wings for several hours. This helps them dry out and prepares them for flight.

9. Some butterflies have coloring on them that looks like huge eyes. This helps scare of predators, making them think they are a much bigger and scarier creature than they are.

10. Butterflies were once thought to be the souls of departed family members. Therefore many cultures treated them with great care and love, and avoided harming them for any reason.

See how interesting butterflies can be? Share these facts with someone else who wants to know more about these fluttery friends.  They are sure to be amazed too!