Butterfly Facts
Butterflies are cold-blooded, meaning they cannot regulate their own body temperature.
There are 292 species of butterflies in Canada. Most of which are found in British Columbia (176) and the fewest on Prince Edward Island (42). In Ontario we have 142 species.
Caterpillars shed their skin to accommodate growth.....just like snakes have to.
Monarchs have been known to migrate over 3000km. In fact a Monarch tagged at Presqu'ile, here in southern Ontario, was recovered in Mexico and is on record as being the longest insect migration.
Butterflies make up 20 percent of the order lepidoptera.
A caterpillar grows to about 27,000 times the size it was when it first emerged from its egg. So if a human baby weighed 9 pounds (4kg)at birth and grew at the same rate as a caterpillar, it would weigh 243,000 pounds (110,000kg) when fully grown!
The Karner Blue butterfly became extirpated in Ontario around 1991.
The Giant Swallowtail is the largest butterfly found in Canada. It's wingspan can reach up to 5".
About 24,000 pupae are sent up to be released in the aviary each year. Luckily, we don’t have to give them all names...
All butterflies have complex eyes made up of about 60,000 lenses and there are certain species of butterflies that have thousands of eyes. Butterflies can see color such as green, red and yellow and they can even see ultraviolet light.
