The Big Field Trip

               Butterflies are beautiful flying insects that suck nectar and pollinate flowers. Butterflies have proboscises which are straw-like tongues that they use for sipping nectar. Butterflies have three body parts, which are the head, the thorax (the chest), and the abdomen (the tail end). Butterflies have an exoskeleton, which is a skeleton in the outside of the butterfly’s body. Butterflies have four, scaled wings. Their scales have color and their colors get rubbed off a little bit every day. They hold their wings straight up and together while resting. They can only fly in temperatures above 86 degrees. In cool weather they spread their wings in the sun to warm them up.

From The Big Field Trip – Brazil, January/February, 2009

                The smallest butterflies have a wingspan of only 0.62 inches. The biggest butterfly, the Queen Alexandra’s Birdwing, has a wingspan of one foot (12 inches or 30 cm). The female Queen Alexandra’s Birdwing is brown with white-cream spots and a red tuft of fur on the thorax. The male is blue with green markings and a bright yellow abdomen. The Queen Alexandra’s Birdwing is poisonous, and it gets its poison from a toxic plant; animals that eat a Queen Alexandra’s Birdwing get sick and vomit. Animals will remember that bright colors and markings mean that the butterfly is poisonous and will not eat it again. The Queen Alexandra’s Birdwing is found in a tropical rainforest in New Guinea. There are not many Queen Alexandra’s Birdwings left because people cut down the trees the butterflies eat to grow their crops.

From The Big Field Trip – Brazil, January/February, 2009

                If you find a caterpillar on a leaf and you put it in a cage with plenty of leaves, and you come back four weeks later, you will find a beautiful butterfly. You would look around for your caterpillar, but you would only find the beautiful butterfly and a hollow chrysalis. You would figure out that the caterpillar turned into a chrysalis and the chrysalis turned into a butterfly. You would probably be amazed.

From The Big Field Trip – Brazil, January/February, 2009

                Butterflies land on a tree or plant to decide if it is the kind of leaf that their caterpillars eat BEFORE laying their eggs. When caterpillars hatch, they eat their own eggs, which is their first meal. Most caterpillars eat leaves, but some are carnivores that eat wooly aphids. Caterpillars eat, eat, eat, eat, so they can be big butterflies and not be hungry when they’re in the chrysalis. The caterpillar turns into a chrysalis, which is a pretty, hanging, container that looks like the letter C. The unprotected chrysalis is hung up in a tree NOT ON THE GROUND. The butterfly is in the chrysalis for one week. The chrysalis cracks open, and the butterfly comes out and dries its wings in the sun. After a few hours the butterfly can fly. Some butterflies can live up to six months to one year. Some butterflies migrate in order to avoid adverse environmental conditions (like cold weather).

From The Big Field Trip – Brazil, January/February, 2009

                Butterflies are usually active during the day. Most butterflies eat nectar from flowers, sipping with their proboscis. Birds, wasps and other animals eat caterpillars and butterflies. Some caterpillars and butterflies blend into their environment, and some have a shade of green, but some are colorful and predators can see them easily. Bright colored caterpillars and butterflies are poisonous. They get their toxicity from the plants they eat. Butterflies can fly up to 30 mph. The poisonous ones fly only 5 mph. Some caterpillars and butterflies have eyespots that make them look like more scary animals to scare away predators.

From The Big Field Trip – Brazil, January/February, 2009

                Butterflies have compound eyes. Hexagonal lenses cover the eye. Butterflies can see images, colors, and even ultraviolet light. Caterpillars have simple eyes and cannot see images – they can only see light and dark. The butterflies’ bodies are covered by sensory hairs that give them a sense of touch. These hairs help them detect the wind. This helps them to fly. The Johnson organ in the bottom of the antennae helps the butterfly keep its balance. Butterflies taste with their feet and hear through their wings.

From The Big Field Trip – Brazil, January/February, 2009

                When my dad asked me what my science project was going to be about, I said, “Butterflies”. My dad said, “Sure. What do you know about butterflies?” And he said, “Fill this whole page with things you know and things you want to know.” And I did.

                My dad made a net with some material with small holes in it, some thread, a broom handle, and some wire, but it was too big for me to hold. So he had to hold it when we searched for butterflies. I held the jar to put the butterflies inside of. He made a cage too, out of mosquito net material.

From The Big Field Trip – Brazil, January/February, 2009

                When my dad and I were going to catch butterflies, some neighbor kids came by and said, “What are you doing?” in Portuguese, because we are in Brazil. My dad said, “We are catching borboletas”, which means butterflies. They asked if they could help us. The kids told us where butterflies were. A boy with black hair and orange spots on his hair caught four butterflies. His hair reminded me of a monarch butterfly. A boy with blond hair caught two butterflies, and a boy with black hair caught nine butterflies. Cruz caught one moth with his hands. We caught a yellow one, an orange one, even a green one with blue and black. We caught a black one with red and yellow. We put twenty butterflies in the cage. I tried to feed them sugar water, but the little ones drowned in it, so I let them all go.

From The Big Field Trip – Brazil, January/February, 2009

                My dad and I went to catch butterflies in the central park of Arraial D’Ajuda, which is in Brazil. We ran in the shade of the trees catching butterflies. When we were chasing butterflies, we touched a few stinging plants on our legs. It stung bad! But we caught a lot of butterflies. We measured the butterflies’ wingspan and took pictures of them. We were hoping to figure out the species for each butterfly and the family it is in. I caught a butterfly that was orange, with black lines and white dots. I was so excited because I thought I was the first one to discover it, and I wanted to name it the “Beautiful Butterfly”.  We looked on the computer for a long time, but couldn’t find it. We also caught a yellow swallowtail. When we looked it up on the computer, we found out it was called papilio cresphorte or “Giant Swallowtail”. When we were at Praia do Espelho, a beach near Arraial, we found a butterfly called the “Owl Butterfly”. It looked like it had owl eyes on its wings.

From The Big Field Trip – Brazil, January/February, 2009

                I see the world slightly differently now. I can imagine being a butterfly and seeing trough its eyes. I would see ultraviolet light glowing on flower petals saying, “Get your nectar here!” I would smell my mate’s scent and laugh as we chase each other. I fly away fast from birds and wasps. As I fly I feel really light, like a feather floating in the air.                

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