NatGeo: Why Do Butterflies Have Such Bright Colors?

This is Flappy, our very own butterfly, who hatched in our kitchen after Doug found the monarch chrysalis attached to a dumpster and brought it home. Flappy is a monarch and the green chrysalis suddenly one day turned black; you could see the monarch pattern and within an hour Flappy was testing his wings on the flowers by the pool. An hour after that he was off to find the milkweed our neighbors are so awesome about planting.

It was perfect timing, since not long ago I'd gotten a NatGeo Weird Animal Question of the Week about why butterfly chrysalises look like they do and why butterflies have such bright colors. It was a great question plus it lead me to find Katy Prudic, an entomologist at Oregon State University, wealth of butterfly knowledge and all-around cool person who has been a great help in making some complicated concepts easy. Check out her eButterfly website and, as a citizen scientist, add your own butterfly pics to the mix!

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