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There's a butterfly in this colorful fractal somewhere!
Computer produced mathematical fractals - art and chaos theory from Piglette's Fractal Universe.
Butterflies are amazing little creatures and among the most beloved insects to mankind. Starting out as caterpillars they undergo a miniature miracle with their metamorphosis at the chrysalis stage, transforming themselves from crawling animals with multiple dumpy little legs to beautiful 4-winged flying beauties with six slender legs and delicately sensitive antennae.
Interestingly, butterflies taste using their feet. They don't have a mouth and tongue in the same form as we know them, but a tube known as proboscis which doesn't have tastebuds. The proboscis remains coiled up until the butterfly chooses to feed. When landing on a flower, the butterfly checks out whether it will be suitable as food by using the taste receptors on its feet. If it detects that the flower has yummy nectar, the butterfly will then suck up the nectar through its proboscis. The butterfly will also use its feet's taste sensors when deciding where to lay its eggs, by selecting a leaf which its feet sense will be suitable food for its caterpillars after they have hatched.
Despite their small and fragile size, many butterflies undergo long distance migration. Notably the Monarch butterfly's migration path spans an incredible 2,500 to 4,000 miles between North America and Mexico. Such a journey lasts longer than most Monarchs live, but somehow the generations end up returning to the same areas to overwinter. It is believed that they use the position of the sun in the sky in combination with a circadian rhythm to help tell the time of day to help in navigation. Monarch butterflies are also one of the few insects that can successfully fly transatlantic crossings. Monarchs from America are sometimes found having made the journey all the way across the ocean to Great Britain.
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