Have you ever wondered what do butterflies eat and why? These beautiful species brighten up our day when we spot them and interest us in knowing more about them. Let us find out what do these insects eat to survive.
In our ecosystem, many species have distinctive features. Each of them is unique in its ways, like its habitat or food. One of such species that are very common is the butterflies. They are one of the most common and favorite insects to humans.
They belong to the species classification of Lepidoptera, which also includes moths. There are about 20,000 different species of butterflies. Such unique creature also has their food habits according to their physical biology. These beautiful creatures with vibrant wings spend most of their time flying around.
But you might have questions like what do butterflies eat. To be more specific, the simple answer to that would be nectar, but butterflies drink and don’t eat.
Instead, they use their tongue like straw on nectar from flowers. Of course, as various butterflies will be a certain change, diet depends on the species. But primarily, butterflies depend on nectar except for a small number of butterfly species having other things.
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The life cycle of a butterfly
The life cycle of a butterfly is typically described in four different stages. These stages are when the butterfly goes under metamorphosis to grow.
These stages are described as egg, larva, pupa, and adult. In the egg stage, the butterfly has to hatch from an egg which can be oval, round, cylindrical, or small depending on the species. These eggs are generally laid on leaves of plants by an adult female.
In the next phase, a butterfly’s life starts as a larva. In this second stage, the larva has to eat to grow. A butterfly larva, also known as a caterpillar, eats a lot through this entire phase, especially leaves. This is why the female lays the eggs on the leaves so that the offspring can eat them after hatching.
You might think about what do butterflies eat and what is different from a caterpillar. Caterpillars mainly eat leaves, plants, and feed on other insects, while most adult butterflies generally depend on nectar. As the eating continues over time, the caterpillar grows bigger and expands its size.
This is precisely when the caterpillar begins its third phase. This stage is called the pupa when the caterpillar reaches its total growth. They transform themselves into a pupa or a chrysalis.
Inside the pupa, the butterfly grows very fast as it changes its tissues, organs, and limbs into adults. This metamorphosis takes them to the fourth and final phase, becoming full-grown butterflies. There break out of the pupa to spread their wings and fly.
What kind of food do butterflies eat in the wild?
This butterfly is a widespread insect categorized in the Lepidoptera group of species alongside moths. If you think about what do butterflies eat in the wild, then a simple answer would be nectar.
Most butterflies depend on nectar obtained from different kinds of flowers. Butterflies are mainly found in gardens, flower beds, or especially near flowers. Their tongue is like an elongate tube that is attached to their mouth.
They use this as a straw to suck and drink nectar from flowers. There are some taste receptors, but they mainly have those in their feet. Thus, they taste using their feet rather than their tongue. Therefore, they largely depend on a liquid diet rather than eating.
Some butterflies suck nectar from flowers, while others prefer drinking it from fruits. This is why they like visiting a garden or a bed of flowers and dense flower areas.
The sweet smell of nectar present in the fruit or flower attracts them. If you think about what do butterflies eat and drink, they only drink. Then also like to have sweet nectar from fruits too.
Although in the case of having nectar from fruits, they mainly prefer rotting and ripened fruits. The decomposing fruits have softened and have more of a liquid form. This scenario is perfect for butterflies to drink the liquid using their straw-like tongue.
They mainly prefer fruits like rotten bananas, apples, and pears. This diet’s truth is that butterflies do not always eat due to their hunger or nourishment.
Often, mainly male butterflies eat wet substances like water, puddles, and nectar for the breeding process. They gather salt and minerals to pass it to the female while mating to ensure breeding. This helps in the proper nourishment of the eggs, which helps with the offspring’s correct development and growth.
So thinking about what do butterflies eat is not a simple answer, as they also feel thirsty. They usually feed in a large group together, searching for nectar in flowers.
Butterfly vs caterpillar
The life cycle is based on various stages, four to be specific. One of these four phases includes the caterpillar. This is when it has to eat a lot to get the necessary nutrition to grow to its full length and weight.
So the question of what do butterflies eat is not that simple as they eat differently during different phases of their metamorphosis.
As you know, adult butterflies like to suck nectar from flowers as they use their tongue like a straw to do it. However, caterpillars do not have the option to do that as they didn’t develop those particular organs yet.
As the female lays the eggs on a leaf, they mainly depend on leaves after hatching. During the various stages of metamorphosis, when it becomes a caterpillar, it eats leaves, flowers, grass, twigs, and other small insects.
They eat small insects like aphids, ants, moss, lichens, and in some cases, even each other. After breaking out from the pupa after becoming an adult, they mainly depend on a more liquid diet.
Thus, their obsession is with sucking and drinking nectar from fruits and flowers. But if you are thinking about what do butterflies eat and drink, that is not everything they eat, as there are various other things included in their diet.
What do butterflies eat
Butterflies are one of the most beautiful insects with colorful wings and are known for their taste in nectar. They are usually attracted to flowers containing sweet nectar as they use their tongue to suck in the juice.
Although, being a beautiful-looking insect with multi-colored wings and having a taste in nectar doesn’t make it all good.
As discussed earlier, they drink not only for their nutrition or hunger but also for breeding. So you might ask questions like what do butterflies eat. The honest answer to that question is they eat a lot of things that are considered gross or disgusting to us humans.
One of the things they like to eat is mud. The idea of sweet nectar consuming butterflies might be contrary to it, but this is one of their nutrition sources.
After the rain, many puddles or mud puddles form in the area, containing a lot of minerals and other nutritional values.
As this species is based on the intake of salt, protein, nitrogen, and amino acid, these puddles serve as an excellent holder for all those nutrition.
Another thing they drink is the excretion and body liquid of other animals. This includes urine, and they like to drink the urine of various other animals, like buffalo, cows, dogs, and humans.
They even drink their body fluids. They do this indirectly by first secreting the liquid into a sweat, urine, puddle, or anything else and sucking it. This provides them with freshly dissolved minerals.
They also have other body fluids like sweat and tears. Butterflies like to drink the sweat of various animals, including humans. Often you see a butterfly sitting on you, your pet cat or dog, or any other animal.
You might have thought that looks cute, but the butterfly came to drink the sweat in reality. As the sweat contains a lot of salt, mineral, and other nutrition, the butterfly can surely use that. This is also applicable for drinking tears.
They also rely on other excretion and discharges like poops. The excretion of humans and other animals has a lot of nutrients we might not need, but the butterfly sure does.
The poop includes various necessary nutrients for the butterfly. Sometimes, they also prefer to have blood. Although, they indeed don’t prick a hole in the skin and drink as mosquitoes do. But there is a drop of blood from a cut; they will surely take advantage of it.
Another thing they eat is decaying flesh and dead bodies of other animals and insects. Finally, they eat fleshes of dead rotting animals like shrimps, ants, beetles, and even dead snakes.
What are the types of flowers that attract butterflies?
A butterfly is not simply one species, as more than 20,000 butterfly species are present worldwide. Naturally, these different butterflies would have slightly different tastes and food habits.
They mainly feast on nectar found on fruits and flowers, and particular flowers attract butterflies more. For example, if you ask what butterflies eat in the rainforest, they mainly feed nectar or other sugary liquid. As in the rainforest, a flower isn’t the only option for nectar, and they can also rely on sugary liquid found in rotting fruits. Some butterflies also have to depend on orchids, as in the rainforest, flowers cannot have more nectar due to the lack of sunlight.
Wild sage attracts butterflies due to its fragrance blooming with flowers. This plant also has various colors that make it a perfect match with the butterflies.
Wedelia is another plant from the Aster family that attracts butterflies. Columbine, Hall’s location, Leichtlin’s camas, New England Aster, and lantana are also very good butterflies’ attract, especially of Anise Swallowtails.
Milkweed and Phlox are good for attracting Eastern Black Swallowtails. Bee Balm or Monarda, Butterfly Bush, Sunflower, Tithonia, and Honeysuckle are good for having Eastern Swallowtail butterflies.
One of the most famous butterflies, the Monarch butterfly, is attracted to Milkweed, Lantana, New England Aster, Zinnia, Cosmos Sulphureus, Red Clover, Pentas, daisy, and Mexican Sunflower.
Joe-Pye Weed, Sweet Joe Pye Weed, Mexican Sunflower, Jewelweed, Lantana, and Honeysuckle is good for having Spicebush Swallowtail.
Other things that attract various butterflies are rotting fruits, dung, meadow flowers, and various flowers, fruits, and plants of a garden or field. Butterflies like Green Comma, Meadow Fritillary, Mourning Cloak, Red Admiral, Question Mark, Great Spangled Fritillary, and many more are attracted.
Benefits of butterfly eating
The system on how butterflies eat a different thing and how it contributes to a more extensive system of nature is fascinating.
For example, as butterflies sit on one flower to find nectar, they from one to another and help in pollen transfer. This is an essential part of the ecosystem as, without butterflies, the reproduction process of flowers and many plants would hugely reduce. Furthermore, they are essential mediums that plants depend on for asexual reproduction.
Other than nectar from flowers and fruits, they eat a lot of things, including sweat, blood, poop, mud, and more. The answer to what do butterflies eat and drink might be straightforward, but their contribution to the ecosystem due to this process is enormous.
Final thoughts
Butterflies fascinate humans due to their attractive appearance. But their food habit does not always match their decoration and attractive looks. Other than feasting on nectar from flowers and rotting fruits and eating many things that human beings concede disgusting. But these are highly nutritious for butterflies.
These are mud, poop, sweat, the blood of other animals, and even their own body liquid. This is not only for their hunger but also for their matching and breeding purpose. Butterflies search for various liquids filled with minerals, salt, and other nutrients.
