We Care...Butterfly #10

We are not the only inhabitants of the earth,

The earth does not belong only to humans

From the seas to the deserts,animals face the ongoing threat of cruelty and abuse. Bears are captured and forced to fight dogs. Marine mammals, such as whales and dolphins, get trapped in discarded fishing gear. Wild animals are traded as exotic pets.

We should end the needless suffering of animals.
We should influence decision makers to put animals on the global agenda.
We should help the world see how important animals are to all of us.
We inspire people to change animals’ lives for the better.
We should move the world to protect animals.

Butterflies are insects in the macrolepidopteran clade Rhopalocera from the order Lepidoptera, which also includes moths. Adult butterflies have large, often brightly coloured wings, and conspicuous, fluttering flight. The group comprises the large superfamily Papilionoidea, which contains at least one former group, the skippers (formerly the superfamily "Hesperioidea"), and the most recent analyses suggest it also contains the moth-butterflies (formerly the superfamily "Hedyloidea"). Butterfly fossils date to the Paleocene, about 56 million years ago.

Butterflies have a four-stage life cycle, as like most insects they undergo complete metamorphosis. Winged adults lay eggs on the food plant on which their larvae, known as caterpillars, will feed. The caterpillars grow, sometimes very rapidly, and when fully developed, pupate in a chrysalis. When metamorphosis is complete, the pupal skin splits, the adult insect climbs out, and after its wings have expanded and dried, it flies off. Some butterflies, especially in the tropics, have several generations in a year, while others have a single generation, and a few in cold locations may take several years to pass through their entire life cycle.