Guides Corner

The Butterfly Zone: Plants and Pollinators
The Jungle Guides' Guide

Pollination is a story of adaptation. As flowers evolved over many generations, the pollinators adapted. Just as the bromeliad is ideally designed for life in a tree, the hummingbird's beak is ideal for drawing nectar from a tubular flower; flowers pollinated by nocturnal bats are light-colored making them easier to see in the dark. And the pollinators, themselves have interesting adaptations: the bright orange of the monarch serves as a toxic warning to predators. We've outlined these and other interesting adaptation tales for your students on this guide.

If possible, shave off five minutes from the three galleries we currently use so you can tour the four galleries in our allotted hour with 15 minutes in each. In the entry room of the exhibit, we've included four questions and answers about butterflies specifically written with kids in mind. These are included at the end of this graph for your use. (Yes this is a pollination exhibit, but we know the kids are going to be most interested in the butterflies flying about the room.

We Begin...
What's pollination? Here's a child-friendly explanation:
Baby plants grow from seeds. These seeds come from flowers. To make seeds, the flower must be pollinated. Pollinated means pollen has been moved from the male (boy) part of a flower to the female (girl) part. Often, pollen looks like yellow dust and sometimes it can be moved from flower to flower by the wind. Other times, animals do the moving. When animals do the moving, they're called pollinators. Many animals and insects are pollinators. The main animal pollinators are: bees, bats, birds and beetles, flies, butterflies and moths.

(In case you think your students might like a reminder on seeds: Tiny baby plants are inside seeds. Seeds are often found in the middle of fruits. Think about the seeds in an apple or the big seed in the middle of a peach. We eat lots of seeds. Rice, corn and wheat are just some of the seeds we eat. Chocolate, coffee and vanilla all come from seeds, too.)

How do pollinators move pollen? Sometimes with their faces!
Animals and insects will put their tongues or beaks into flowers to get at the nectar inside the flowers. Nectar is a sweet drink that is an important food for the pollinators. When they put their faces into the flower, they get dusted with the pollen. When they fly or walk to the next flower for their next drink of nectar, they leave their pollen behind. The flower is now pollinated and a seed can grow.

Flowers and their pollinating partners
You can guess what pollinates a flower by looking at the flower's color and shape:

Bee flowers: These are usually yellow, blue or purple. Bees can't see red, but they can see ultra violet color and often these flowers have UV markings on them guiding the bees to the nectar. These flowers typically smell good because bees have a strong sense of smell. Sage and mint are bee pollinated.

Butterfly flowers: These are usually red, blue or purple, the colors butterflies see best. Because butterflies rest when they're eating nectar, they're attracted to flowers with space to land-broad, open flowers like daisies or yarrow with its masses of tiny flowers forming a landing pad. Butterflies have long, drinking straw-like proboscises for sipping nectar. These are perfect for narrow tubed-shaped flowers or those with nectar spurs like impatiens.

Bird flowers: Bird flowers are typically large and colorful to attract the bird. Birds have good vision, but a poor sense of smell, so these flowers may often be odorless. The flowers are large enough for birds to land on.

Hummingbird flowers: Bright red or orange, narrow, tubed-shaped flowers perfect for a hummingbird beak. Hummingbirds feed while flying so they don't need a landing platform. Fuchsias, salvias

Bat flowers: These flowers are often white or light colored and open at night. They typically give off a strong, fruity odor. These flowers are often positioned outside the foliage. These flowers need to be large enough to accommodate the bats face. The calabash is bat pollinated.

Beetle flowers: Beetle flowers are typically large and bowl-shaped, often dull colored or reddish brown. They give off a strong fruity smell. Magnolias, camellias and water lilies are beetle pollinated.

Fly flowers: Flies are attracted to drab or dull red flowers. The flowers often smell like dung or carrion. Stapelia (see exhibit panel) and dutchman's pipe are fly pollinated.

These are the questions printed on the wall in the entry room of the exhibit. You can use them with your students.

1. Why do some butterflies fly fast and others fly slowly?
   Those that taste good to a predator often fly fast and erratically, or continue to move their wings even when stopped on a flower. Butterflies that do not taste good or have toxins in their bodies don't have to fly as fast since most of the birds leave them alone.
2. Why are some butterflies brightly colored and others camouflaged?
   Again, those that might taste good to a predator need to hide from them. Butterflies that do not taste good don't have to hide. These butterflies display bright “warning colors” as a way to remind predators that they taste bad or are toxic.
3. What do butterflies eat and how do they eat?
   Most butterflies drink nectar from flowers as adults. Their mouthparts are modified to form a soda-straw kind of tube, allowing them to slurp nectar from deep inside a flower. When not in use, they hold this “tongue” or proboscis coiled up close to their head.
4. Did you know that butterflies taste with their feet? What would you taste right now if you tasted with your feet?
   Yes, butterflies have chemical receptors on their feet that tell them when they have landed on a flower rich with sweet nectar, or land on a caterpillar food plant suitable for laying their eggs.