How long butterflies live depends on many things
and varies greatly. It depends on the size of
the butterfly, the species of the butterfly,
where it lives, and what time of year it became
an adult. For example, if the butterfly is
of the smaller version it will probably not live
as long, but if it is a larger butterfly, it
will live longer. Now of course the size
of the butterfly is not going to be the only
factor of how long a butterfly will live, but
does attribute to it.
There is an average life span of a butterfly
- it is usually about one month. Although
the smallest butterflies that you can usually
spot feasting on the flowers in your front yard
will usually only live about one week.
Mourning Cloaks, some tropical Heliconians, and Monarchs
are some of the only butterflies that have an
average life span of about nine months.
Now as many of you know, butterflies are
cold-blooded creatures, so there is another
factor to take into consideration when you are
dealing with butterflies; the climate. For
instance, if the butterfly egg has been laid
just before the cold weather hits, the egg will
stay in egg-form until the weather warms and as
soon as it does, the caterpillar will hatch and
everything will start again. If the
butterfly is an adult butterfly and the weather
starts to turn colder and they did not migrate
south, the butterfly will hibernate somewhere
until the weather warms. What this means is that
a butterfly could technically live for many
months past the average life span, it all just
depends on the climate and what stage of live
the butterflies is in when winter comes.
There is also a difference between how long a
butterfly would live if it was not living in the
wild and how long it will actually live.
Butterflies in the wild are exposed to many
predators like birds and other insects, so may
not live as long as they are capable of.
Here is an article all about the Monarch Life
Span: http://www.monarch-butterfly.
com/life-span.html
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