Frequently Asked Questions

What kind of food do butterflies eat?

  • Butterflies eat only various liquids to maintain their water balance and energy stores.


  • Most butterfly sip flower nectar, but other imbibes fluids from sap flowers on trees, rotting fruits, bird droppings, or animal dung.


  • Many adult butterflies are found drinking fluids from wet sand or mud, especially along stream or edges of dirt roads or trails.


  • The longwing butterflies such as the Zebra are able to collect pollen from certain flowers with their proboscis and to break it down and absorb amino acids which contribute to the ability to survive, mate and lay eggs for long periods (6 months or so).


  • With their short proboscis (tongue) the Harvester butterflies can actually pierce the bodies of woolly aphids and drink their fluids--this would be the only bug that butterflies eat.


  • The caterpillar of almost all butterflies eats various parts of plants.


  • Each species may specialize of only a few kinds of plants or plant parts.


  • The caterpillars of the Harvester butterfly and its relatives are feed solely on aphids. Photo (Aphids.bmp) Aphids may be green, black, brown, red, pink, or some other color. These pear-shaped insects are slow moving and range in size from 1/16" to 1/8".
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