March 24, 2011
Students in the Corpus Christi School system got a preview of Seymour Simon’s next book, BUTTERFLIES, when he visited their schools earlier this month.
Here is one of the fascinating facts Seymour shared about butterflies. Monarch butterflies start life as a beautiful, multicolored caterpillar (which is actually the insect’s larva). At least, it looks beautiful to us. To birds and other predators, the colors of this caterpillar say "Danger! Poison! Stay away!" The reason the larva is poison is that the monarch lays its eggs on the poisonous leaves of the milkweed plant. As the caterpillar eats the leaves, it is able to store the poison in its own body, therefore becoming poisonous to other creatures. Pretty good predator avoidance strategy, right?
Butterflies and moths exhibit some of the most interest camouflage coloring and behaviors in nature. Click here to read one of Seymour’s recent posts is about the Dead-Leaf butterfly, which uses another form of camouflage, called "mimicry."
In this photo from a story in the Corpus Christi Caller-Times, Seymour holds up a copy of the book, which will be published later this summer. You will be able to read more about this in BUTTERFLIES. The book is full of beautiful photographs and fascinating information about butterflies and moths. It will be in bookstores on August 23, 2011 (available for pre-order now on both Amazon and Barnes & Noble).
Caterpillar Photo:Mon@rch’s Nature Blog
Posted by: Liz Nealon
