What do butterflies eat?
Butterflies do not have jaws to chew food like humans do; instead they have a thin, hollow straw-like tube called a proboscis which is made up of two interconnected pieces. Since butterflies can’t chew their food they have to stay on a liquid diet! Most butterflies drink nectar from brightly colored flowers. In fact butterflies have been drinking nectar from flowers for so long that they’ve developed preferences for and special relationships with specific plants. This diet is nutrient poor; nectar does not proved all essential nutrients. Many tropical butterflies drink the juices of fruit that is found rotting on the ground. Many of these tropical fruit juice drinking butterflies have developed barbed proboscises capable of puncturing the rinds of fruits like oranges. Butterflies also drink water when they’re thirsty; perching at puddles to take a sip. To acquire salts vital to their health and reproduction they will drink from muddy puddles, sip sweat, or take in moisture from animal
