COLORFUL HELPERS A butterfly flutters in the wind Its bright orange wings flash against the sky The insect flies over a garden Soon it spots a daisy The butterfly uses its legs to land softly on the petals Then it straightens its coiled tongue The tongue called a proboscis acts similar to a straw A monarch butterfly rests on a cluster of daisies 5 CHAPTER 1
The insect uses it to suck nectar from the flower As the butterfly sips pollen from the flower sticks to its legs Then the butterfly moves to another flower The pollen brushes off the butterfly’s legs and falls onto the new flower This process is called pollination A pollinated flower makes seeds which grow into new plants There are more than 17,000 species of butterflies in the world They live on every continent except Antarctica More than 75 percent of butterflies live in tropical regions The world’s butterflies come in many sizes and colors Some butterflies wingspans are less than 1 inch 2 5 cm Others can grow to be 6
The western pygmy-blue is one of the smallest butterflies in the world almost 1 foot 0 3 m Butterfly wings come in all colors of the rainbow Butterflies play a key role in nature As they collect nectar they pollinate flowers Some butterflies fly over long distances 7
