Wisconsin Native Butterflies provides a comprehensive resource on native butterflies. The catalog includes detailed profiles, information on the preferred habitat, breeding strategy and image.
Butterflies play an important role in pollinating flowers, particularly flowers that have a strong scent, are red or yellow in color and produce a large amount of nectar. The importance of butterfly pollination to plant reproduction may not be equal to that of honeybees but several plant species, like milkweed and other wildflowers, depend on butterflies to transfer their pollen.
An abundance of butterflies is often an indication that an ecosystem is thriving. This is due to the fact that butterflies are an important component of a food chain, as predators and prey. Adult butterflies and caterpillars are an important source of food for other animals such as bats and birds.
What causes the radical transformation from caterpillar to butterfly? How does a caterpillar rearrange itself into a butterfly? What happens inside a chrysalis or cocoon?
Take this quick quiz and see how much you know about Monarch butterflies and their inspriational migration. This quiz is intended for fun, in a random-facts-can-be-cool kind of way.
Wisconsin has a number of butterfly parks and gardens that provide viewing of live butterflies. Visitors will enjoy the experience of viewing various native butterfly species.