Butterfly trivia & their link to tornadoes

Butterflies are a very important part of Mother Earth. They pollinate plants more than any other insect on this planet other than bees. Butterflies are the favorite food of songbirds, which is why many people want to attract them to their gardens. When Mother Earth’s eco-system is out of balance, butterflies begin to die out, which makes them good indicators of a healthy or a failing environment. I firmly believe that when the Earth was created, each and every creation was given a specific duty. Our Haudenosaunee stories tell us that everything created has specific roles to carry out to insure Mother Earth remains healthy for future generations.  Sadly, so little today is known about each thing’s duties or are even explored by the world’s scientists. It seems travel to the moon or Mars is more important than understanding the endangered crucial link we all share with creatures. For example: the life that exists in our oceans has yet to be fully studied, explored, and their link to continuity of life to all living things, understood.  However, there is a theory that in some ways does recognize the balance in which the Earth was created. It is called the “butterfly effect.”

The origin of the concept and the term “butterfly effect” came from the work of Edward Lorenz. Edward Norton Lorenz (1917 - 2008) was an American mathematician and meteorologist, and a pioneer of the chaos theory. He discovered the strange attractor called the chaos theory, which was later called the butterfly effect.   It is based on the chaos theory that feels there is a sensitive dependence on initial conditions. The chaos effect was first described in 1890 in the literature by a Jacques Hadamand, and later popularized by Pierree Duhem’s 1906 book. The idea that one butterfly could eventually have a far-reaching ripple effect on subsequent historic events seems first to have appeared in a 1952 short story by Ray Bradbury about time travel.

The concept of a butterfly flapping its wings has remained constant in the expression of this concept, but the location of the butterfly, the consequences, and the location of the consequences have varied widely. The phrase, “butterfly effect” refers to the idea that a single butterfly’s wings creates tiny changes in the atmosphere that can alter the path of a tornado or delay, speed up, or even prevent the occurrence of a tornado in a certain location. The flapping of the butterfly’s wings is said to create a small change in the initial condition of the system, which causes a chain of events leading to large-scale alterations of events. While the butterfly does not cause the tornado, the flapping of its wings is believed to be an essential part of the initial conditions that could result in a tornado. This theory should have us seriously think about what our own movements and actions on Earth are creating. The idea of the butterfly effect has even shown up in literature.  In chapter four of F. Scott Fitzgerald’s story “Winter Dreams” there is the following sentence, “The house was sturdy to accentuate Judy’s slightness - as if to show that a breeze could be generated by a butterfly’s wing.”

There are hundreds of facts about butterflies, and I would like to share some of them with Indian Time readers. Butterflies are so interesting that hundreds of books have been written about them.  A sad fact about butterflies is that the greatest threat to butterflies is the loss of their habitat. Some of the most mysterious facts about butterflies has to do with how they develop from egg to butterfly. Their metamorphosis from caterpillar to butterfly is done in the hidden confines of a chrysalis. Some facts about their growth and development are: (1) When a caterpillar hatches from its egg it increase in size 30,000 times before it is ready for the pupa stage. (2) In its pupa stage, the caterpillar’s body turns into a gel-like liquid and the cells are broken down and reorganized. (3) The butterfly does not spin a cocoon, as many believe. You will sometimes erroneously hear that a butterfly emerges from its cocoon. Moths spin cocoons of silken threads, sometimes using leaves to help surround themselves. Butterfly caterpillars shed their final skin to reveal a pupa. The outer skin of this pupa hardens to form a chrysalis, which protects and hides the amazing transformation that is occurring inside. (4) Some butterflies while in their chrysalises produce sounds that are used to frighten predators away. (5) A butterfly wings are hollow, so when they come out of the chrysalis they can hang upside down while the wings fill with fluid. This process takes several hours. (6) Some caterpillars eat 27,000 times their own body weight before they are ready to enter the chrysalis stage. (7) The butterfly’s chrysalis takes on a wide variety of appearances, depending on the species of butterfly. Some hang from beneath leaves or twigs. Others are attached to the side of a stem like a worker on a telephone pole. Some are smooth and shiny while others may be rough and even spiky. Some are beautifully colored with dots and lines of gold while others are drab and barely noticeable. No matter what the design, the function is the same. They are designed to lessen the chances of being eaten by a predator and to increase the likelihood of producing an adult butterfly.

The following are some fun facts about butterflies:

(1) There are approximately 24,000 different species of butterflies.  There are more than 700 species of butterflies that inhabit North America.  (2) Most caterpillars have 12 eyes that are a very simple structure, and they can only sense light and dark. (3) There are butterflies that have thousands of eyes. (4) All butterflies have compound eyes made up of about 60,000 lenses. (5) Butterflies can see color and they can even see ultraviolet light, while humans cannot see this type of light. (6) Butterflies have the senses of smell, taste, and touch, but they smell through their feet. After walking all day in my sneakers, I am glad I don’t smell through my feet! (7) Butterflies do not go to the bathroom. Only when they are caterpillars do they eat and defecate constantly, but when they are transformed into butterflies they no longer eat and so have no need to go to the bathroom. (8) Butterflies do drink. Occasionally, a butterfly will have too much to drink and will spray the excess from an opening at the top of its abdomen. (9) Pictures of butterflies can be seen on ancient Egyptian frescoes (any of several related painting types, done on plaster, on walls, or on ceilings. The word fresco comes from the Italian word alfresco which derives from the adjective fresco (“fresh”), which has Latin origins) in Thebes (the Greek name for a city in Ancient Egypt located about south of the Mediterranean, on the east bank of the river Nile). These frescoes are estimated to be over 3,000 years old. (10) Butterflies do not sleep but they will become inactive on cloudy days and at night. (11) The colors of a butterfly are created by minute (tiny) scales that cover the surface of their wings. (12) The wings of butterflies and moths are actually transparent. (13) The iridescent colors of the butterfly are not caused by pigmentation. The light bending through the scales causes them. (14) The only continent where there are no butterflies to be found, is the Antarctica. (15) Butterflies are not always peaceful. They will sometimes fight each other for the control of a sunny patch of ground. (16) If a human baby weighed 9 pounds at birth and grew at the same rate as a caterpillar, it would weigh 243,000 pounds when fully grown.

The following are some trivia facts about butterflies: (1) The word butterfly comes from an old English word for butter churn, buttorfleoge. (2) The Mourning Cloak butterfly will play dead when threatened by predators. (3) Butterflies have to be warm to fly. When their body temperature drops below 86 degrees they have to wait until they warm back up again. (4) Butterflies hide in underbrush, leaves, and other places of shelter when it rains because their wings can become torn from the wind and the rain if it is heavy.(5) Skippers may be the fastest flying butterfly. They can fly at speeds of up to 30 miles per hour. (6) Monarch butterflies have been observed as high as 1,000 feet in the air. (7) The Monarch butterfly may migrate more than 2,000 miles. (8) Butterflies do not use lungs to breathe. (9) Butterfly caterpillars are not usually the pests that eat your roses and other garden flowers. Moth larvae usually eat these plants.

I would like to end with a little information about the butterfly that is usually the first one we see in the spring, the Spring Azure (Celastrina ladon). The Spring Azure is widespread throughout North America. This butterfly is on the wing from early spring to fall. This butterfly is one of the earliest butterflies to emerge from its pupa and thus heralds the beginning of spring and better weather to come. It is generally a metallic-blue above and gray below. It can exhibit large variations in color depending on the time of year and geographic location where it is found. From wing tip to tip, the tiny Azure measures 3/4 of an inch to 1 and 1/4 inches. It frequents woodlands, parks, open fields, roadsides and gardens. The female Azures often fly up into trees, such as dogwood to deposits their eggs on the flower buds. You can see male Azures congregating in shallow mud-puddles and moist soil along stream, roads and ditches. Their larvae are greenish or pinkish, with a dark stripe on their backs. Spring Azure butterflies are fond of rock cress (Aribis), buckeye (Aesculus), violet (Viola), winter cress (Barbarea, dandelion (Taraxacum) and a host of other plants. If you want to attract these beautiful tiny blue butterflies, plant several low growing flowering plants in your gardens.

The following are some links to puzzles young and old can do, some information for releasing butterflies at weddings, birthdays, and more.

(http://www.billybear4kids.com/butterfly/puzzles.html)  Butterfly & bug puzzles from 12 to 88 piece do online puzzles)

(http://www.amazingbutterflies.com/) (Release live butterflies for weddings, anniversaries, birthdays, memorial service or any special event to add a uniquely colorful touch that will create a lasting impression. You can view a butterfly release at this site, and see butterfly gifts, teacher’s aides, artwork, t-shirts and more.)