Kate’s 2¢: “The language of butterflies: how thieves, hoarders, scientists, and other obsessives unlocked the secrets of the world’s favorite insect” by Wendy Williams; Angela Brazil,

“The language of butterflies: how thieves, hoarders, scientists, and other obsessives unlocked the secrets of the world’s favorite insect” by Wendy Williams; Angela Brazil,

Kate’s 2¢: There is a plethora of in-depth biographies of authors and reviews of their books, that state the title, author, published date, and genre; as well as,     describing what the book is about, setting, and character(s), so, Kate’s 2¢ merely shares my thoughts about what I read.  I’m just saying…

   This was, actually, a very interesting story. Some information was common knowledge and other facts were amazing to know

A few take-outs:

–A lepidopteran epiphany, an entire universe opened up

–The language of butterflies is the language of color

–Each is finely adapted to the ecosystem in which it lives.

–Most animals are multi-celluar and mobile. Most planats are multi-cellular and not mobile. Of course, there are exceptions to this rule of thumb.

–Monarch butterflies have one non-negotiable requirement: they need milkweed plants.

–Butterflies have been around since flowers and their proboscis is adapted to its favorite flower.

–Moths do not need flowers.

–The orange on a Monarch’s wings is a warning to stay away.

Chemical Ecology is a new branch of science.

–chemists have isolated the poison from the butterfly and found the identical toxin in milkweed.

–To preserve the butterfilies, you need to know what it likes to eat, where it likes to hang-out, and all about its life-style.

–Controled burns are not allowed to burn more than 50 acres at a time and must be out by sunset.

–Circadian rhythms are day and night. Circannual rhythms are seasonal

–The butterfliy has an innate molecule that, if it is a night molecule, it breaks down by morning, so the butterfly knows what time it is.

–Monarchs can learn and change their behavior, as long as milkweed is available.

–Along the central flyway, environmentalists are planting milkweed and other flowers to nutur the butterflies on their migration.

   In my weekly newspaper coloum for July 31, 1996, I wrote:      By the way, if you’re interested in attracting butterflies to your garden, plant the butterfly weed (asclepias tuberosa), a member of the milkweed family along with favorites such as lantana, zinnia, aster, cosmos, French marigold, coreopsis, purple corn-flower, and verbena.              To provide nectar throughout the entire growing season, plant azaleas in Spring, buddleia in Summer, and mums in the Fall.

            You might be able to entice some butterfly species to winter over if you hang a slender wooden box with side slits for access and bark strips inside to cling to.

From NLS/BARD/LOC:

The language of butterflies: how thieves, hoarders, scientists, and other obsessives unlocked the secrets of the world’s favorite insect DB102826

Williams, Wendy; Brazil, Angela. Reading time: 8 hours, 40 minutes.

Read by Angela Brazil.

Animals and Wildlife

Nature and the Environment

Reveals the world of butterflies. Discusses their influence on scientific research, specializations within species, and the fascination they have for humans. Unrated. Commercial audiobook. 2020.

Downloaded: July 1, 2022

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