How Do You Attract Butterflies To A Backyard?
Butterflies are pretty and somewhat mysterious. That’s a perfect combination to spark our imaginations. They appear in our art, our poetry and even in our tattoos. So with about 20,000 species of butterflies in the world and more than 700 species living in North America alone, why aren’t they appearing in your backyard [source: North American Butterfly Association]? First it’s important to understand the life cycle of a butterfly because it has different needs during different times of life. Butterflies become adults through a four-stage metamorphosis, beginning as an egg. Larva (a caterpillar) hatches from that egg and becomes a chrysalis (pupa) that finally transforms into an adult. Food preferences vary during each phase of life — larvae, for example, like to munch on leafy greens but most adult butterflies eat a liquid nectar diet that they drink through
Butterflies are pretty and somewhat mysterious. That’s a perfect combination to spark our imaginations. They appear in our art, our poetry and even in our tattoos. So with about 20,000 species of butterflies in the world and more than 700 species living in North America alone, why aren’t they appearing in your backyard [source: North American Butterfly Association]? First it’s important to understand the life cycle of a butterfly because it has different needs during different times of life. Butterflies become adults through a four-stage metamorphosis, beginning as an egg. Larva (a caterpillar) hatches from that egg and becomes a chrysalis (pupa) that finally transforms into an adult. Food preferences vary during each phase of life — larvae, for example, like to munch on leafy greens but most adult butterflies eat a liquid nectar diet that they drink through
