I’m a Butterfly
I start out life in a different form

My mother butterfly deposits her tiny eggs on to leaves and plants from which I find my food source.

I am a caterpillar once I hatch from the egg after a week or two and I have a voracious appetite feasting on the leaves my mother placed my egg upon.



I develop in 4 stages in my life cycle.

First as an egg

Then as a caterpillar

Then as a butterfly in pupa and adult stages

The process from egg to butterfly is a metamorphosis of which the chrysalis is the change from caterpillar to butterfly whereby a protective surface covers the caterpillar as it grows and develops into a beautiful butterfly as nature intended.

It’s quite remarkable how nature works in the sense of the development of insects such as butterflies and their evolution.

Butterflies are considered winged insects.

Once a butterfly fully develops it finds a mate, then the female lays her eggs on leaves and plants as the lifecycle of the butterfly starts again for the next generation.

Butterflies are beautiful and very colorful as they add to nature’s landscape.

Butterflies live all around the world with the exception of Antarctica.

They live in forests, grasslands, wetlands, deserts and near water sources.

Butterflies fancy plant nectar and are also pollinators spreading pollen to plants assisting in the balance of nature but not on the scale of honeybees.

It’s quite sad that butterflies typically have short life spans no more than 4 weeks.

One reason butterflies have short lifespans is many species are born without a fully developed mouth so their caterpillar stage is their opportunity to eat from the leaves.

Butterflies subsist on the nectar from the flowers through a tube similar to a straw where they are able to extract the sweet nectar for their short time on the earth.

Their main purpose is to mate and for the female to lay her eggs for future generations of butterflies in the wild.

There are 18,000 species of butterflies worldwide which boggles the mind when you think about it.

Butterflies are a tapestry of beautiful colors that please all especially children who are fascinated by them.

The children love to catch butterflies in their net so they can observe them and the best thing is setting them free after the experience of holding them in their hands.

Butterflies must be handled with care and set free to fly away to safety.

Butterfly gardens are wonderful places to see a wide range and species of butterflies in a safe place for the butterfly and the visitor who comes to see them in their natural habitat.

Butterflies have existed in the world for 50 million years and you can learn of their earliest existence in museums and at libraries.

It’s every child’s wish to see butterflies in flight and still.

They are quite mysterious and fascinating creatures that provide us with a unique sense about life, nature and the butterfly.

Disney has a movie, Wings of Life, a Disney nature film that portrays all the creatures that fly and serve a role in nature’s ecosystem including the butterfly, the bee, the bat and the bird and their relationship to the flowers and crops that we all rely on as well as these wonderful winged creatures.

If you are out and about with your butterfly net and you happen to catch me please handle me with gentle care and set me free.

I’m a butterfly.