Why are Butterflies called Butterflies?

Hey, smarty pants, I’m just here in my garden watering my tomato plant.

Trusty narrator that you who said that down here

on the leaf. Oh, hey, it’s a caterpillar. But wait, how do you know my name?

I’m a big fan. I’m about to be wrapped in a cocoon soon, so I’m loading up on Who Smarted episodes so I won’t get bored. Wow!

I’m flattered! Speaking of who’s smarted, I’ve always wanted to do an episode on caterpillars and butterflies. Do you have some spare time to talk to us?

You mean talk to you and all the smarty pants listening? Why, I’d love to! OMG, I’m gonna be famous. What do you want to know? Oh, FYI, my name is Carlene, but my friends call me Cece. But I’ve been listening to you so long, I consider you a friend, so you can call me Cece.

Wow, where do I begin? Uh, how about the beginning? Great. First, I was an egg, but I don’t really remember much.

I understand that butterfly eggs are tiny, like the dot you’d make with a pencil point. Many common garden butterflies lay eggs that are light -colored, often yellowish. Eggs can vary in shape and color, depending on the species, but without magnification it can be hard to spot the differences.

Wow, you know more about butterfly eggs than I do, and I was inside of one. I read.

a lot. But this is an amazing opportunity to talk to you and get answers to questions that I’ve always wondered about. Like, how and why do caterpillars turn into butterflies? How do you make a cocoon, and what happens inside of it?

And why do butterflies have such pretty wings? Is it that time? Yep, it’s time for another whiff of science on…

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Don’t you just love Parsley?

I usually think of it more as a garnish, personally.

I love parsley, I love to eat. I was in an egg for about 4 to 9 days, which is the average hatching time for most species.

I’ve read that butterflies lay hundreds of eggs in their lifetime, but not too many of them actually grow up to be butterflies.

It’s true, there’s many hazards in the wild, birds, lizards, beetles, spiders, and of course humans. We do need to munch on your plants to survive, and not everyone likes sharing their parsley, carrots, dill, or fennel with a hungry caterpillar.

I remember reading a book about a very hungry caterpillar when I was a kid.

Yep, that’s a fun story, but in real life caterpillars are way more sensible eaters. Most caterpillar species eat only leaves and many eat only one specific kind of leaf. And while some of us might nibble fruits or a plant, we’d never eat ice cream, salami, and cupcakes.

We’d explode. Yikes! One thing the book does get right is how caterpillars eat more and more as we grow. Caterpillars go through five growth stages called instars. Each stage we shed our skin and replace it with a bigger skin.

The bigger we get, the more we munch. But remember, a caterpillar is just the larval stage of a butterfly or moth. I’m near the end of my caterpillar cycle, and soon I’ll return as a black swallowtail butterfly.

Ooh, where can the smarty pants find a black swallowtail butterfly?

Black swallowtails are pretty common and have a wide habitat range in eastern and central North America. We can be spotted in meadows and fields near purple cornflowers, milkweeds, and zinnias.

And what will you look like?

I’ll be mostly black, with two rows of white dots on my wings. I’ll also have some blue dots and two orange swirls. Black swallowtails are distinctive because we grow quite large. I’ll have a wingspan of nearly four inches.

That’s about the size of a toilet paper roll. So tell me, what do you need to do to prepare to become a black swallowtail butterfly? Well, for one thing…

Pardon me, trusty narrator, I have to munch between sentences. I’ve been a caterpillar for about a month now, and I have to gobble up as many tasty leaves as I can so I’ll have plenty of nutrients to help me grow inside my cocoon.

It’s okay. Eat up, Cece. I can barely sit through a movie without a snack. I can’t imagine going through an entire transformation. Yep.

time I spend in my cocoon will last longer than every single Marvel and DC movie ever made, with no snacks.

Woah. Um, Cece, I think you might be shedding.

Ah, so I am. Like I said, caterpillars shed their skin, or molt, at every growth stage. I’ve already molted four times. This is my last molt, and soon I’ll build my cocoon.

Hey, smarty pants, do you know how much caterpillars can grow from the time they hatch until they’re fully grown and ready to transform? Is it A, two times their size, B, 10 times their size, C, 50 times their size, or D, 100 times their size?

If you said D, you’re right. Caterpillars grow from the size of a grain of quinoa to around two inches long, which is a little longer than a AA battery. I know, that still seems small, but that’s about 100 times their original size.

Whoa! Once I reach my final length and goal weight of about three grams, I’ll stop eating and become what’s known as a pupa or chrysalis.

And what happens during the pupa or chrysalis stage?

Well, there’s a nice part and a gross part. First, I pick a spot for my cocoon. It could be suspended from a branch, hidden by leaves, or buried underground. Most caterpillars like to hang upside down.

Hmm, the underside of this magnolia branch here looks safe to me. Then what? It’s cocoon time! I use the glands near my mouth to create silk, which I can attach to the spot where I want to hang. Then, I use a hook -covered appendage called a cremaster to hang on.

I keep spinning silk around and around till I’m all cozy and wrapped up like I’m in a sleeping bag.

Are there different kinds of cocoons, or are they all the same?

Some caterpillars build loose, comfy cocoons, while others build very strong, tightly -woven cocoons. One species, the orange -spotted tiger clearwing, from the rainforests of South America, build a cocoon that looks like chrome and cleverly reflects all the colors of the rainforest as camouflage.

Smarty Pants. How long do most pupae or chrysalis remain in their cocoons? Is it a. 8 -12 days? b. 2 -3 weeks? c. 2 -4 months? or d. 1 -2 years?

If you said A, you got it. Most butterfly species emerge from their cocoons in about one to two weeks. Although, some species remain pupa for months and a few species will remain in their cocoons for up to two years.

Wow. You could listen to 100 ,000 Who’s Smarted episodes in that time.

Next comes the gross part. Are you ready?

What do you think, smarty pants? Should we hear the gross part? OK, let us have it.

So, once I’m as snug as a bug in a rug, wrapped inside my cozy cocoon, I shed my exoskeleton completely and then release digestive enzymes, which break down my muscle and tissue cells into a kind of pupa soup.

Gross! I warned you, but hey, transformation isn’t easy, and it’s all part of the glorious process known as metamorphosis. For about one to two weeks, I shed the old me, and develop new cells that’ll become my legs, antennae, and wings.

I’ll start out as a little pupa, with as few as 50 cells, and grow to have more than 50 ,000 cells as a full -grown butterfly.

That’s exciting! But wait, how do you get out of your car?

Once all my butterfly parts are fully formed, I’ll go through the process of eclosion, where I release a hormone to soften my cocoon so it’ll stretch, allowing me to get out. Nice! Oh boy, I’m starting to make silk.

Time for me to cocoon.

Um, I take it you won’t be able to talk to me from inside your cocoon. Nope.

Tell you what trusty narrator. Let’s meet back here in two weeks when I emerge a fabulous butterfly Right now it’s time to metamorphosize

All right, smarty pants. We’ll be back with CC the Butterfly after this quick break. Hola, bonjour. Hello, ni hao. Ciao. Hey, smarty fans. I’m learning to say hello in lots of different languages. Of course, learning a new language is hard and expensive and requires lots of books, private tutors, and courses.

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CC, you did it! You’re a beautiful butterfly! Say, smarty pants, why are butterflies called butterflies? Is it A, because of their wings? B, because of how they fly? Or C, because of their poop? If you said C, poop, you’re right!

Dutch scientists were studying butterflies long ago, and they noticed that their poop, which is officially called frass, looked like butter. So they named this insect the butterfly.

Speaking of flying, check out these wings!

They’re awesome, Cece! How do they feel?

bit crumpled, but I’ll just pump them full of fluid from my body to straighten them out. Then they’ll harden and dry so I can use my four wings. Four wings? Yep, I’ve got two four wings and two hind wings.

How do your wings work? Well, us butterflies have scales on our wings that have a sharp edge. When we fly, we actually cut the air like a knife slicing butter. We’re able to soar by using our big wings and slow wingbeats.

We only flap our wings 10 beats per second compared to 200 for a honeybee. So what do you have planned now? I got places to fly, flower nectar to drink, a mate to find, and ultimately eggs to lay. My lifespan is only about two to three weeks, so I have to make the most of it.

Two to three weeks? That’s so short. Yep, monarch butterflies, the orange and black ones you see, can sometimes live for months. And the yellowish brimstone butterfly can live a little more than a year.

Gotcha. You mentioned eating. How do butterflies eat?

I have a long, straw -like tongue, or proboscis, which I can curl and uncurl to slurp up sugary flower nectar. Did you know I have taste buds? Not just on my proboscis, but also in my feet, my antennae, and my wings, so I can enjoy all the sweetness, and sense toxins to avoid.

Impressive, do butterflies ever sleep?

Of course! Butterflies snooze hanging upside down under leaves. This protects us from birds and rain and provides some shade. We don’t have eyelids, you know.

know, but I hear you have better eyesight than me.

eyes composed of thousands of tiny lenses I can see in many directions at once. I also have an incredible and adjustable range of color vision.

Speaking of color, your wings are so bright and colorful. Why is that?

My bright coloration serves a few purposes. For one, it signals to predators that I don’t taste good or could be poisonous. And the swirls and patterns allow us to blend in with nature and helps camouflage us.

Cool!

Well, I know your time is short, so I’ll let you go. Be free and fly, butterfly.

Later, trusty narrator, bye smarty pants. Remember, one day you too can transform into your most colorful self.

A big shout out to Vito, listening around the world in Manila, Philippines! We’re so glad to hear that you learned so much stuff listening to Who’s Smarted before going to bed, Vito, even if you go to bed 12 hours ahead of me.

Keep smarting, buddy! This episode, Butterflies, was written by Libby Ward and voiced by Kierna Conner and this guy, Jerry Colburn. Technical direction and sound designed by Josh Hahn. Who’s Smarted is recorded and mixed at the Relic Room Studios.

Our associate producer is Max Monarch -Butterfly -Kamaskey. The theme song is by Brian Suarez, with lyrics written and performed by Adam Textavis. Who’s Smarted was created and produced by Adam Textavis and Jerry Colburn.

This has been an Atomic Entertainment Production.

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