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Life Cycle of a butterfly | Butterflies for Kids | Learn the 4 stages of the butterfly life cycle - YouTube
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Butterflies
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One of the most beautiful insects in the world
is the butterfly.
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These creatures have four transparent, or
see-through wings that are often bright and
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colorful.
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Tiny scales on their wings make up their unique
patterns and designs.
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Butterflies are cold-blooded which means their
bodies are the same temperature as the air
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around them.
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Cold-blooded is the opposite of warm-blooded.
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Humans are warm-blooded.
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Unless you are sick and have a fever, your
body temperature stays the same no matter
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what the temperature is around you.
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Even though some butterflies adapt at freezing
temperatures, they can鈥檛 fly if they get
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too cold.
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Their wings could form little ice crystals
which prevent a butterfly from flying and
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they could die.
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To keep this from happening, some butterflies
hibernate in holes in trees and other crevices
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during the winter months.
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Butterflies live in habitats such as forests,
grasslands, the Arctic tundra, and even, in
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your backyard.
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Butterflies go through four different stages
in their lives.
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The adult female butterfly lays anywhere from
one to hundreds of eggs.
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The eggs are about the size of the head on
a pin.
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A caterpillar grows inside each egg.
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The eggs are covered in a sticky glue-like
liquid that helps them attach to nearby leaves.
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It only takes 3-6 days for a caterpillar to
develop inside the egg and then hatch.
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Once the baby caterpillar is born, it can
eat the leaves it was attached to for food.
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When the caterpillar is hatched, it is called
the larva phase or the second stage of its
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life.
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This stage lasts until the caterpillar grows
to adulthood which takes about five to ten
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days.
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Can you imagine going from a baby to an adult
in only one week?!
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The caterpillar has strong jaws and eats leaves
for food.
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As the caterpillar grows bigger, it out-grows
its skin.
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It sheds its skin because it gets too big
for it.
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Just like you buy a new pair of jeans when
you get too big for your old pair.
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Some caterpillars shed their skin four times
before they become fully grown.
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Fully-grown for a caterpillar is about two
inches in length.
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Other insects, besides caterpillars also go
through this stage.
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Stage three is called the Pupa stage.
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During this stage, the caterpillar or larva
attaches itself to a branch or the underside
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of a leaf using a bit of silk it produces.
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For a final time, the caterpillar sheds its
skin.
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This time it reveals a hard skin underneath
called a chrysalis.
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Sometimes people call a chrysalis a cocoon,
but a chrysalis and a cocoon are not the same
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thing.
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A cocoon is spun by a moth and made from silk.
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A chrysalis is the hard covering that appears
after a caterpillar sheds its skin.
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During the pupa stage, the cells of the caterpillar
turn into cells of a butterfly.
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This process is called metamorphosis.
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It is one of nature鈥檚 most amazing occurrences.
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It takes between 7-10 days for a young caterpillar
to turn into an adult butterfly.
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When the butterfly emerges from the chrysalis
the pupa stage ends and the fourth and final
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stage of its life cycle begins.
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Now, the butterfly is an adult.
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However, it cannot fly when it is first born.
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Instead it hangs upside down until its wings
take shape and become hard.
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After about two hours the butterfly鈥檚 wings
will have developed completely and it is ready
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to fly.
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Depending on the species, a butterfly lives
for about a week to a year.
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During this time, the butterfly鈥檚 purpose
is to reproduce or to lay eggs so that the
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life cycle of other butterflies can begin.
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Since a butterfly is an insect, it has six
legs, two antennae, a head, a thorax, an abdomen,
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and compound eyes.
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Compound eyes give the butterflies great eyesight.
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While tiny knobs on the end of their antennae
help them sense the air for nectar.
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A butterfly鈥檚 diet includes nectar from
flowers, salt from mud puddles, and juice
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from rotting fruits.
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Adult butterflies have a long tube-like tongue
called a proboscis.
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It鈥檚 like a straw they use to suck up their
food.
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Can you imagine sucking up a mud puddle for
dinner?!
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If you think that鈥檚 weird, how about this:
Butterflies taste using their feet!
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That鈥檚 right!
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Butterflies have tiny taste buds or receptors
on the bottoms of their feet.
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These receptors help them know if they want
to eat whatever they are standing on.
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Maybe that鈥檚 why they don鈥檛 wear socks?!
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And did you know that it鈥檚 not just bees
that pollinate flowers?
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Butterflies also help with that job as they
fly from plant to plant sucking up nectar.
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Speaking of flying, some butterflies, called
skippers can fly almost 40 miles per hour!
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But most butterflies can only fly between
5 and 12 miles per hour, which is still pretty
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fast!
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The biggest butterfly in the world is called
the birdwing butterfly.
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These butterflies have large, angular wings
that can reach almost a foot long!
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They also fly in a similar way to birds.
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Their way of flying and their wing shape,
is how they get their name.
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These amazing butterflies live in the forests
of Eastern Papua New Guinea.
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Birdwing butterflies are very rare and endangered,
which unfortunately means there aren鈥檛 very
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many of them left.
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One butterfly you are probably familiar with
is the monarch butterfly.
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These butterflies are native to North and
South America.
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Every year when it begins to turn cold, monarch
butterflies travel great distances to warm
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locations like Mexico or California- sometimes
over 2000 miles away!
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The female monarchs then lay their eggs.
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Once the new butterflies are born, they travel
back to where they came from.
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This starts a new life cycle.
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The monarch butterfly is the only butterfly
known to make a two-way migration, just like
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birds do.
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There are nearly 20,000 different species
of butterflies on Earth and each is unique.
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Remember that butterflies are delicate creatures.
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So, if you ever get a chance to hold one,
be very careful.
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We want these incredible creatures to continue
adding beauty to our various landscapes all
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over the world.
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