"A butterfly goes wherever it pleases, and pleases wherever it goes."

Sunday, May 6, 2007

We Have Butterflies!

Last Monday morning I entered my classroom at 7:30 am and checked the chrysalises, who all seemed to be in the exact position as I left them on Friday. By 8:15 am, however, when my students began entering the classroom, three butterflies had emerged in the largest of our four habitats. By the end of the day, we have seven butterflies. By the end of the week, we had fifteen. Some of my students were lucky enough to watch a butterfly emerge, as was I. For me the most interesting transformation was watching the wrinkled, soft small wings fill with liquid and grow to their full size. Here are answers to some questions asked by my students:

What is the difference between a chrysalis and a cocoon? While both butterflies and moths go through a metamorphosis, they form different “coverings” during this process. A cocoon, made by moths and some other insects, is a protective coil of silk and sometimes leaves. Butterflies form a chrysalis, which is made of hardened skin.

What is the difference between a moth and a butterfly?


  • Moths tend to have fatter and fuzzier bodies, usually are nocturnal, and often have feathery, fuzzy antennae, and tend to rest with their wings down.
  • Butterflies tend to have straight antennae with rounded or clubbed tips; rest with their wings up above their bodies

    Here is a nice web site that shows the difference between butterflies and moths.
    Moth or Butterfly?

    Butterfly Rainforest


    My favorite moth is the sphinx moth. My husband and I used to watch them fly around in the summer evenings, around 10 pm, in Las Vegas, Nevada. They are so big that at first we thought they were hummingbirds. You can see some of them here:
What's That Bug?

How can you tell if a butterfly is a male or a female? Females have larger abdomens than males and males have claspers (found on the last segment on a butterflies’ body that are used to clasp onto a female butterfly during mating)

How long will our butterflies live? About two weeks. This is their natural life cycle.

16 comments:

Anonymous said...

I like how you explained the difference between a moth and a butterfly, thank you for explaining! -
ELMC

Anonymous said...

Is the life cicle for living for two weeks for all butterflys or just painted ladys.

Anonymous said...

I liked it when you explained how you could tell the diffrence between a female and a male.
AEF

Anonymous said...

I HOW LONG CAN THE PAINTED LADY BUTTERFLIES LIVE OR DO THEY GIT ANY STRANGE DIESEASES.

Anonymous said...

Why is the Sphinx your favorite kind of butterfly?
-krystin

Anonymous said...

I'm glad that you explained how to tell the difference beetwen a female and a male butterfly.

Anonymous said...

I can't belive a Sphinx moth can be so big!

-Shafeen

Anonymous said...

I didn't know the difference between a chrylisis and a cocoon.

Col

Anonymous said...

What did you do in the past years besides doing butterflies???

Anonymous said...

Ilearned ALOT from that.

KAITLIN

Anonymous said...

I think it is said how the painted lady butterflys live for only two weeks.


Daniel O.

Anonymous said...

I like how you show pictures of the butterflies and hwo you put all that information.
Daniel

Anonymous said...

The sphinx moth's design reminds me of bones.

Anonymous said...

I think that it is sad that our butterfly friends die in two weeks, but it is the natural life cycle. I thought that you made good questions and I hope that you write more in this blog. I think you will have a lot of fun in Vietnam. The weird thing is, I had all those questions and was about to ask you them later.
-Sienna

Anonymous said...

I think that it was fun and a good way to learn about butterflies. I don't usually like learning, but I actually enjoyed the experience. I liked the way you explained the difference between a butterfly and a moth.

JACOB

Anonymous said...

I never knew the diffrence but now i do.

by colten

Three Teachers--Jeff, Rachel and Beth

Three Teachers--Jeff, Rachel and Beth

Red and Yellow

Red and Yellow
This one is beautiful and also quite common

Rare Green Butterfly

Rare Green Butterfly
This one is drinking water from a waterfall we hiked to

Tam Dao Classroom

Tam Dao Classroom
Yes, this is an actual classroom being used

Rachel at a Classroom Teacher's Desk in Tam Dao Primary and Secondary School

Rachel at a Classroom Teacher's Desk in Tam Dao Primary and Secondary School
Yes, this is an actual teacher desk

Tam Dao was once a summer retreat for wealthy French families when France occupied Vietnam

Tam Dao was once a summer retreat for wealthy French families when France occupied Vietnam
This is what's left of one French villa--there were over 400 here at one time, but were destroyed by the Vietnamese people in the 1950s

Hanoi Time

Hanoi