Survival strategies in the butterfly world

The term "food chain" sounds innocent and easy to digest... but in practice it is a subtle expression of life and death struggles in the war of survival, the daily share of all creatures of nature.

The natural world as a fabric of life

In the animal world there is always a predator and prey, eater and being eaten, exploiter and exploited, and every living production is a component of the food chain. The ecological balance is maintained as the food sources continue to sustain the environmental partners in which the chain is maintained. To sustain and exist in balance means to continue to eat or be eaten. That sounds cruel. But emotion is a human trait while hunger is an existential instinct.

The first insights into the perception of the natural world as a complete "web of life" between all its components, such as the human body, were presented to the world by the great naturalist (Alexander von Humboldt 1859-17691) who recorded the findings of his travels, in South America and the Siberian steppes, in a tremendous collection of details, abundant Books and diaries and groundbreaking diagnoses that formed the basis of Darwin's thinking in the theory of evolution in his book Moza the species. Darwin, who met Humboldt and was deeply influenced by him, made sure to take his books with him on his first trip through the Galapagos Islands in 1831.

Every creature has a place and a contribution in the fabric of life

Butterflies, like any creature, strive for protection in order to continue to exist and to have the right to establish the next generation. In each of the stages of the butterfly's life cycle (egg, larva, pupa and adult butterfly) there is a real danger of being harmed by a predator that feeds on them. It can be assumed that evolutionary processes are the ones through which the wonderful means of protection have been developed, of which I will tell examples here at the end of the fork.

Laying strategy

A butterfly's egg It is a defenseless passive state, but already for this phase a strategy of casting is employed
which is designed to reduce the chances of damage to increase the chances of survival of the eggs of the species.

This is how we find species of butterflies that lay eggs in large quantities or species that lay single eggs scattered among the leaves of the bush or species of butterflies that lay hidden under a leaf or fold of a stem or deep in the soil. Each species of butterfly has its own means. The goal is to allow as many eggs as possible to survive until the larva hatches.
The eggs are tiny and hardly visible to the eye because the burden of growth will be taken over by the larva. Barnacles lay a mass of eggs on the underside of the leaf. Swallowtails lay a single egg on a leaf.

Laying the eggs will always be done next to the food source The side of the larva that will hatch from the egg, that is, right on the plant on which or its fruit the larvae will eat. Each species of butterfly has only one plant or family of plants that only they will serve as a food source for the larvae. This plant is called thehost. Often this is also the origin of the butterfly's name (for the cabbage plant, as the pomegranate flute, the Horshef nymph).

Butterfly larvae are the defense experts

the larvae which are greedy food for a wide variety of predators (lizards, praying mantises, birds) equipped with a wide and fascinating range of defense measures. While eating obsessively, the larva grows up to 30 times from the moment it hatches, but this also increases the risk of its exposure to predators. Many caterpillar species, especially these The hairy ones emit strong odors and toxic substances that cause burning who repel attackers and even harm them. For this reason, hand contact with larvae should be avoided, which may cause rashes on the skin and local inflammation.

But there is also an opposite strategy, larvae that emit substances that provoke aggression in ants. This causes the ants to behave violently around the caterpillar and thus protect it from other attackers, while behaving possessively towards the caterpillar.

very common The imitation strategy which is a visual defense tool. Paintings on the caterpillar's body copy and simulate large and threatening creatures. Like a warning costume. Imitation paintings exist in many species of caterpillars and have many configurations, various examples of paintings of large eyes painted on the heads of caterpillars and even a painting simulating a snake's head.

An impressive technique to create shelter house with existing mobility in moths of the sasvaginal type. The caterpillar wraps itself in a bundle of twigs stuck to its body and is free to move safely protected by a hard shell.

Use of warp threads: Butterfly larvae make effective use of webs for various purposes. An impressive thing is the work of folding and sewing leaves and turning them into a protective cover. During the day the larva hides in the lap of the folded leaf and at night comes out for short meals. To find its way back to the house of the leaf, the caterpillar pulls with it a thin cord attached to the sheath of the leaf. He makes his way back along the stretched cold.

The caterpillar of the Katlab emperor usually cuts the connection of the leaf to the branch and causes it to fall off at the end of the meal, so the signs of its visit disappear and the caterpillar returns to its hiding place until the next night. A caterpillar that detects imminent danger can disappear from the predator by falling from the branch, hanging on the thin wire of cold until the anger passes. And the last function of the webs: today's butterflies are embodied while anchoring and strengthening their bodies with the help of a small number of webs.

A pupa that sees the newborn

The golem Has no defensive skills, and fortunately not a tempting food either. Butterfly pupae survive for long periods and there are many species that hide deep in the ground, which protects them even in the event of forest fires. Incarnation is also a period of waiting for suitable living conditions (a period called diapause), like winter sleep. Question: How does the pupa know when to end the process and hatch as a butterfly? Well the answer lies in understanding what the cocoon is waiting for?

In about two weeks (average life time of a butterfly) the hatched butterfly will have to continue the generation and lay eggs on a plant the innkeeper The particular one from which only the caterpillars will eat. namely The presence of the plant is a condition for the continued existence of the generation Because without it there will be no food for the larva that hatches from the egg that is laid. 

Conclusion: the golem knows how to identify the conditions for the appearance of its inns. Season of the year, humidity, weather conditions.
In other words: the pupa is responsible for synchronizing with the growth season of the surrogate and completing the maturation of the butterfly for hatching at the correct timing. Untimely hatching will end the couple's life without offspring.

A nimble butterfly is a living butterfly

aviation the butterfly She The most prominent element in his conduct and the main means of his protection. But not the only one. Colors and shapes are used by them for different purposes. Prominent and widespread, for example, is imitation of the type of simulation dummy head in the back of the body. Small tails that simulate tentacles and spots of color next to them that simulate eyes cause the predator to be deceived. Reminds a bit of the gecko's tail that remains in your hand and continues to vibrate while the gecko slips into hiding.

The swallowtail family stands out among the swallowtails and also many representatives of the bagpipe family (such as alfalfa, swallowtails)
A different defense is the use of repellent poisons, such as those produced by the larvae of the Danaia family, which feed on plants from the Ascalpiaceae and Hardopiaceae families (such as the great desert wick) that contain alkaloid poisons. A bird that tastes such a butterfly will not repeat the experience and the red color of the butterfly is an accepted reminder and warning of toxicity in the animal world.

An imitative butterfly posing as a damsel

The royal damselfly (the famous wandering monarch in the USA) has a mimic species that is very similar to it and apparently gets protection from experienced birds. And this is mimicry again. Big eyes on the wings of butterflies is also found in many species and the almond moth, the largest moth in our country, is the most prominent among them. A common feature Especially among the Lebanese is the talent to drop with closed wings to the bottom of the bush and pretend to be dead, in times of danger. Camouflage colors are a thing Common but the most amazing of them is a butterfly that looks just like a leaf that falls from a tree, as long as its wings are closed.

Protection by way of sharing

Extraordinary and champions of the survival strategy are the butterfly species that have learned to adopt and develop Shared life with ants.
In our country, the Galili ants are not the only one, but the most prominent of them. Once a year (around the month of June) the butterfly emerges from the cocoon in the ground and immediately goes out to look for a mate. Before laying, the female will look for a nest of ants of the Jerusalem doll type. The female will lay the eggs in a bush right at the entrance of the ant nest and the area is ready for the show.

As soon as the larvae emerge from the egg, the ants attack them to eagerly drink the "honeydew" that each larva emits from two teats behind it. While milking, one of the ants is assigned to lead the caterpillar to the nest. From then on, the ants will feed the larva inside the nest until it matures and goes to incarnate in the ground next to it.

Shared life (scientific name: symbiosis) with the ants provide the larvae with perfect protection against enemies including food supply (all-inclusive style). In exchange for this, the ants win the precious liquid which is used, apparently, to feed the maggots.

Symbiosis for the purposes of mutual protection in the war of survival exists in the world of flora and fauna in endlessly fascinating forms, and you will certainly not be surprised to know that there are also phenomena of cheating and exploitation, which end badly for one of the partners.