Interesting Facts about Butterflies    [06-12-2008] The original name for the butterfly was “flutterby.” Butterflies have 6 legs, one pair of antennae, and a segmented body with three body parts: a head, a thorax and an abdomen. Butterflies have their skeletons on the outside of their bodies. This is called the exoskeleton. It protects them and keeps water inside their bodies so they don’t dry out. Butterflies are found everywhere on Earth except Antarctica. Butterflies are the second largest group of pollinators next to bees. There are about 24,000 species of butterflies on Earth. There are over 2,000 species of butterflies in the rainforests of South America. The Painted Lady Butterfly is the most widespread butterfly species in the world. The largest butterfly in the world is the Queen Alexandra’s butterfly from Papua New Guinea. The wingspan of the butterfly can reach up to 30 centimeters. The fastest flying butterfly is the Monarch Butterfly. It has been clocked at speeds as high as 37 kilometers per hour. The Brimstone butterfly has the longest lifetime of the adult butterflies: 9-10 months. Butterflies taste with their feet. Some butterflies fly at night. Night butterflies have ears on their wings so they can avoid bats. Butterflies don’t have lungs. Butterflies can see the colors red, green and yellow. The Monarch butterfly can fly 1,000 kilometers without stopping. Monarch butterflies journey from the Great Lakes in eastern North America to the Gulf of Mexico, a distance of about 3,218 kilometers and return to the North again in the spring. Butterflies breathe through openings in their abdomen called “spiracles.” Since butterflies are cold-blooded, they cannot fly if their body temperature is less than 30 degrees. The largest threat to butterflies is loss of habitat.     출처: 어린이 영자신문 키즈타임즈 (www.kidstimes.net)