key point
- No, butterflies don’t bite.
- Butterflies don’t have teeth to bite.
- Some butterflies can be poisonous.
- Butterflies don’t chew their food, they drink nectar and other fluids with their tube-like tongues.
If you could sit down and list animals that could bite, which ones would you include? Your list will likely contain dogs, cats, foxes, rabbits, and other mammals. If you put insects on your list, you probably have mosquitos, ticks, and spiders.
But what about butterflies?
Read on to find out the answer to the question: Do butterflies bite? Plus, learn how butterflies eat and whether caterpillars sting.
Do butterflies bite?
© Kate Bassler/Shutterstock.com
No, butterflies don’t bite. Butterflies don’t have teeth, so they have a hard time biting! But how do they chew their food if they don’t have teeth? The answer is: they don’t have to. These insects survive on a liquid diet.
Butterflies do not have any type of hair, stingers, or even the ability to bite humans, or other insects or animals. Their tubular proboscis acts as a tongue for sucking up fluids. In addition, other insects such as mosquitoes also use tubular straws to suck blood; however, the proboscis of butterflies is not designed for this type of meal.
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Butterflies feed with their proboscis. When a butterfly goes to eat, it sticks out a long, thin tube to suck up nectar or other liquid it wants to absorb. Think of its proboscis as a straw you can use to sip your favorite beverage. When a butterfly has finished eating, it curls up its proboscis so that it is out of the way when it takes off.
What do butterflies eat?
Butterflies drink nectar and suck the sugary juices from rotting fruit. That’s why you’ll see butterflies fluttering around fruits that have fallen to the ground under trees. Additionally, these beautiful fliers drink murky water in a behavior known as watering. They do this to get nitrogen, amino acids and other nutrients from the muddy fluid.
Sometimes butterflies drink blood to benefit from the nutrients contained in this body fluid. human blood? Won’t. A butterfly might land on an animal killed on the road, or perch on a dead animal lying in the woods. The butterfly cannot pierce the skin with its proboscis, so it sucks blood from animal wounds. Plus, butterflies absorb sweat.
It is this behavior that has contributed to the myth of the butterfly biting.
Does the butterfly look like it’s about to bite?
If you’ve ever visited a butterfly exhibit, or even stood still for a while in a local park, you’ve probably been lucky enough to have one of these insects land on your hand or arm. If you watch the butterfly’s behavior closely, you may notice it resting its proboscis on your skin.
To some, it looks like an insect is about to bite. But, as you know, butterflies don’t bite. So, what is it doing?
Butterfly detects sweat on your hands or arms. It has taste receptors on its feet. So, the moment it lands on a sweaty arm or hand, the butterfly knows it’s time to drink. When a butterfly finds something poisonous or bitter with its feet, it flies away. This means the butterflies never have to ingest anything that could be harmful.
Butterflies drink sweat because it has salt in it. The tiny butterfly proboscis on the skin can be a little itchy, but it’s certainly not painful. It’s interesting to think that a person’s sweat can be used as nourishment for butterflies.
How do butterflies defend themselves against predators?
©Sari ONeal/Shutterstock.com
Bite animals use this ability to ward off predators. Butterflies have no such defenses. So how do they protect themselves from predators?
It’s easy to appreciate the beauty of a butterfly’s brightly colored wings. But these bright colors are more than just decoration. These colors signal to predators that the insect may be poisonous. That warning is enough to deter some predators from trying to catch the insect. Monarch butterflies are a good example.
Milkweed is the main food for monarch butterfly caterpillars. The plant contains poisons called glycosides. Glycosides can make an animal very sick or kill it. Therefore, most animals stay away from milkweed. But how can monarch butterfly caterpillars eat it? These caterpillars, it turns out, are the exception to the rule.
Over time, monarch butterfly caterpillars develop resistance to the poison contained in milkweed. They are the only insects that feed on it. After eating the milkweed, the caterpillar carries the venom into its body. As you might have guessed, this is a great way to ward off predators!
An adult monarch butterfly with a bright orange and black striped wing pattern also contained some of the toxin. Birds that try to eat monarch butterflies can become very sick from ingesting the poison.
Eventually, the birds that share habitat with the monarch become familiar with the butterfly’s colors and wing patterns. They learn to stay away from the monarch because they know the monarch is poisonous. So, monarch butterflies don’t need the ability to bite. It has a secret weapon!
Cabbage white caterpillars eventually become large white butterflies. But, while still a caterpillar, the cabbage cabbage feeds on brassica plants. Brassica contains mustard oil. Caterpillars store these oils inside their bodies.
So when a bird tries to eat a caterpillar, it tastes bitter from the mustard oil. This stops the birds from hunting down cabbage white caterpillars and large white butterflies.
Other types of butterflies use camouflage to ward off predators. Some butterflies that live in woodland areas have brown wings that allow them to blend into trees and branches. The mourning cloak butterfly is a butterfly that can easily hide in tree trunks.
Other butterflies have patterns on their wings that can trick predators into thinking the insect is a potential threat. For example, while the tops of the blue morpho’s wings appear bright blue, the undersides are dark brown.
The dark brown scales have a circular pattern that looks like an eye. So when a blue morpho butterfly sits with its wings folded, a predator might think it’s looking into the animal’s eyes. This may prompt some predators to walk away without knowing they are being fooled.
Owl butterflies also have eye patterns on their wings. The wings of this butterfly are a mix of white, brown, and sometimes blue tinges. The lower part of each wing has a pattern that looks like an owl’s eye. So, when a predator looks at this butterfly, it might mistake it for a bird of prey!
Owl butterflies are active at dawn and dusk when some owls are out.
Do caterpillars bite?
Adult butterfly and caterpillar are two distinct stages in the life of this insect. While butterflies don’t bite, caterpillars are a different story.
Caterpillars have mandibles. The mandible is the jaw that moves back and forth to chew leaves and other vegetation. While a caterpillar can bite plants, it cannot bite humans. But some caterpillars can sting.
Do caterpillars sting?
©iStock.com/DBPITT
Yes. Some caterpillars have spines on their furry bodies that can sting. The spiny elm caterpillar is an example. It eventually turned into a mourning cloak butterfly. This caterpillar is black with white spots and red spots. In addition, it has thin black spikes on its body. These soft spikes contain poisons that can irritate the skin.
Do caterpillar stings hurt?
it depends. If you step on a caterpillar with its hairy, spiky body, it’s likely to dig into the sole of your foot. Alternatively, if you gently touch the caterpillar’s spines with your finger, it won’t cause any pain. The amount of pressure exerted on the caterpillar’s spiky body makes a big difference.
What is the treatment for a caterpillar sting?
If the stinger remains on your skin, put a piece of scotch tape over it. Then, quickly pull off the tape to remove the stinger. If you don’t want to do this, you can remove the stinger with a pair of tweezers if you can see where it is.
After removing the stinger, wash the area thoroughly with soap and water. Apply first aid ointment to the sting site. In case of pain or rash, consult your doctor for further treatment. If the affected area is a little sore, a bag of ice can provide relief.
The best course of action is to avoid touching stinging caterpillars. But that doesn’t mean you can’t observe the interesting activities of these insects from afar.
next…
- 10 Poisonous Butterflies – Which Butterflies Are Poisonous? Click here to find out!
- 10 Butterfly Species – Learn About These Incredible Creatures Now!
- What do butterflies eat? – Find out what’s on Butterfly’s menu! continue reading!
I am broadly interested in how human activities influence the ability of wildlife to persist in the modified environments that we create.
Specifically, my research investigates how the configuration and composition of landscapes influence the movement and population dynamics of forest birds. Both natural and human-derived fragmenting of habitat can influence where birds settle, how they access the resources they need to survive and reproduce, and these factors in turn affect population demographics. Most recently, I have been studying the ability of individuals to move through and utilize forested areas which have been modified through timber harvest as they seek out resources for the breeding and postfledging phases. As well I am working in collaboration with Parks Canada scientists to examine in the influence of high density moose populations on forest bird communities in Gros Morne National Park. Many of my projects are conducted in collaboration or consultation with representatives of industry and government agencies, seeking to improve the management and sustainability of natural resource extraction.
