Inquiry Project

Jana HeadSept. 22nd, 2009

My Experience

This summer, while visiting my boyfriend in St. Louis, his family decided we should go to the zoo. My favorite part of the zoo was walking into a room full of multiple species of butterflies. The Insectarium has a numerous variety of beautiful butterflies.

St. Louis ZooSt. Louis, MO

Standard Indicator

5.4.1: Explain that for offspring to resemble their parents there must be a reliable way to transfer information from one generation to the next.

Questions

• What’s the difference between a butterfly and a moth?

• How many species of butterflies live in North America?

• How many species of butterflies live all over the world?

• Do all butterflies eat the same thing? What do they eat?

• How do butterflies reproduce?

Answers

• “Butterflies and moths are evolutionarily related group of insects, called lepidoptera, that share many characteristics, including having wings covered with scales.”

• “About 725 species have occurred in North America.”

• “There are approximately 20,000 species of butterflies in the world.”

Answers

• “The caterpillars of butterflies eat leaves and plant parts. Different types of caterpillars eat different types of plants. Adult butterflies themselves do not eat, but drink. They usually feed on nectar, but the Harvester butterfly actually pierces the bodies of woolly aphids and drinks their fluids.”

• “If you see two adult butterflies with their abdomens linked tail-to-tail, they are mating. The male grasps the female and deposits a sperm packet, which fertilizes the female's eggs. The butterflies can fly while mating, but they usually avoid moving unless they are disturbed.”

Connection to Science Standards

• 5.5.1: Make precise and varied measurements and specify the appropriate units.

• 5.5.4: Compare shapes in terms of concepts, such as parallel and perpendicular, congruence, and symmetry.

• 5.6.4: Investigate, observe, and describe that things change in steady, repetitive, or irregular ways. Note the best way to tell which kinds of changes are happening is to make a table or graph of measurements.

Resources

• http://www.naba.org/qanda.html

• http://wiki.answers.com/Q/What_do_butterflies_eat

• http://www.amnh.org/exhibitions/butterflies/faq.html

• http://dc.doe.in.gov/Standards/AcademicStandards/StandardSearch.aspx