Dinner for butterflies

Butterflies sometimes have a variety of foods available to them and many of those food sources are a real surprise to learn about as they range from the common to the bizarre to the downright yucky.

Nectar: nectar is a sugary water substance found inside of flowers and is a mainstay for butterflies. Butterflies extend their proboscis and insert it into flowers to drink the nectar found within. Nectar being mainly sugar contains very few nutrients and butterflies subsisting upon it have fairly short lifespans (2-4 weeks)

Pollen: Only a few sorts of butterflies are able to subsist on pollen, such as the Florida state butterfly, the Zebra Longwing (Heliconius charithonius). Zebra and a few other closely related heliconian species can collect pollen on the outside of their proboscis and then regurgitate stomach acid onto the pollen to externally digest it. The butterfly will then drink down the resulting liquid which is chock full of nutrients. Butterflies that consume pollen can live 3-6 months rather than just a few weeks.

Fruit: Butterflies that prefer fresh fruit usually have a pointed proboscis so they can pierce through the skin of a fruit and drink its juice. Consuming fruit is very handy when you are a butterfly that lives in a well canopied area, like a rain forest, that may not have many available flowers. It also makes for a nice dietary addition. Yum.

Rotting fruit: Over-rip and rotting fruits decompose into a sticky rotten liqueur that many butterflies use for feeding. This syrupy mess is full of the sugars their bodies need and comes in a handy liquid form easy for drinking through a proboscis. Funnily, sometimes these rotting fruits begin to ferment and butterflies will become intoxicated by the fruit liqueur. They will stagger about, occasionally fall down, and often be unable to fly for some time. Watching this is much like watching the front door of a bar at closing hour.

Sap: Butterflies can also be spotted sipping on tree and plant saps.

Mud: Mmm, mud. Mud contains lots of salts and nutrients and muddy or damp patches of earth often become host to puddling parties where butterflies will land and sip the liquid.

Urine and dung: Yes, it's gross but urine and dung contain many salts and nutrients that butterflies need to survive, especially male butterflies who need to replace salts and nutrients they lost in the sperm package when mating.

Carrion: Similarly, dead stuff breaks down in to a drinkable (to butterflies) liquid rich in salts and nutrients. Yucky to us, but consider it another step in the story of recycling at which our planet and all its living systems are so adept. Gross but necessary.