HOW BUTTERFLIES SMELL WITH THEIR FEET, Nonfiction Minute by Dorothy Hinshaw Patent

Painted Lady Butterfly

Did you know that butterflies can detect smells with their feet? A female butterfly will test the smell of a leaf to find out what kind it is before laying her eggs. She needs to find out if it is a type of leaf that the caterpillars will eat after the eggs hatch.
For a perfect explanation of how butterflies do this, check out children's book science writer Dorothy Patent's Nonfiction Minute (1/24/2019).

Painted Lady butterfly eggs are blue and about the size of a grain of salt. The butterflies prefer to lay them on thistle or hollyhock plants.

To learn about Painted Lady Butterflies and their life cycle, read my new book, BUTTERFLIES IN ROOM 6.