Metamorphosis, the process in which a caterpillar transforms into a butterfly, happens in between 10 to 15 days.
Female butterflies usually survive longer than the male of the species.
Butterflies taste things with their feet.
Photo: Paul Cooper, Taipei Times
照片:台北時報記者古德謙攝
It is believed that there are up to 20,000 different species of butterfly.
Their eyes are made of 6,000 lenses.
Butterflies can choose the colors of their own wings, but have to make a decision within seven days.
Most butterflies fly around eight to 20 kilometers per hour. They cannot fly if they’re too cold.
Butterflies are not toxic, but they have bright colors to pretend they are poisonous, scaring potential predators away.
In English, a person who collects and studies butterflies is called a lepidopterist.
Butterflies sleep for only a few seconds at a time, when they are flying.
Many adult butterflies expend all their energy just by going about their daily business, so they never need to excrete.
Butterflies exist on all continents in the world, except for Antarctica.
Two of the above facts are not actually true.
Compiled by Paul Cooper, Taipei Times
由毛毛蟲蛻變為蝴蝶的過程稱為「變態」,所需時間大約十至十五天。
雌蝶的壽命通常比雄蝶的壽命還長。
蝴蝶是用腳來分辨東西味道的。
據說世界上有高達兩萬種不同的蝴蝶。
牠們的眼睛是由六千個小眼睛組成的。
蝴蝶可以選擇自己翅膀的顏色,只是必須在七天內作出決定。
大多數蝴蝶每小時可飛行八至二十公里。如果身體太冷,牠們將無法飛行。
蝴蝶是無毒的,但牠們會用身上鮮豔的顏色來偽裝自己是有毒的,好將敵人嚇跑。
蒐集及研究蝴蝶的人,叫做「鱗翅類學者」。
蝴蝶每次只睡幾秒鐘的時間,而且是邊飛邊睡的。
許多成蝶光是每天忙東忙西就用掉身上所有的能量了,所以牠們並不用排泄。
全球五大洲都有蝴蝶,只有南極沒有。
上列所述,除了兩點之外,其他都是真的。
(台北時報編譯詹豐造譯)
The false facts are, of course: butterflies cannot choose their own colors; and butterflies don’t sleep while flying. They rest hanging upside down.
虛構的部分當然就是:蝴蝶並不能選擇自己的顏色,蝴蝶也不能邊飛邊睡。牠們休息時,是頭下腳上倒吊著的。
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