Butterfly: More Than Beauty

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Speaker 1: Hi, I'm Rick Schwartz and I'm Ebony mone. Welcome to Amazing Wildlife, where we explore unique stories of wildlife from around the world and uncover fascinating animal facts. This podcast is a production of my Heart Radio and San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance, in international nonprofit conservation organization which oversees the San Diego Zoo and Safari Park. There's anonymous with sunshine and flowers and their transformations are legendary. I'm talking about butterflies, an important component of our bio diversity. We'll talk about ways people are making their gardens butterfly friendly, and we will talk to San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance curator of Entomology, Page howarth Rick. Whenever I see a butterfly, I consider it a sign of good luck. Have they always historically been considered symbolic? Well, I beany. That's the cool thing about living in a world with multiple cultures. It seems every culture has their own version of symbolism when it comes to certain animals. In general, it seems most cultures view butterflies as a symbol of transformation and personal growth, and this is usually based on the process of growth and rebirth and change that occurs when a caterpillar changes into a butterfly. And I did find that butterflies are also sometimes considered a symbol of hope. Now, this is based around the fact that butterflies are migratory and the arrival after winter signifies spring has arrived, so hope for a spring. Yes, I still think that butterflies for a lot of people put them in mind of spring. So how long have butterflies been in existence? Well, I beany it is fair to say butterflies have a long history here on Earth. Now, most scientists agree the modern day butterflies we have around today have not changed much from the butterflies found in fossils from forty million years ago. Now, that said, when we look further back at other fossils, we see butterfly like ancestors from the Cretaceous period. We're talking dinosaur time, which is about sixty million to a hundred and thirty five million years ago. And get this, just a few years ago, new evidence was found that placed butterfly ancestors on Earth two hundred million years ago. So yeah, I think they've been here for a while. And possibly the most well known aspect of a butterfly is the process of what happens as the butterfly ages from an egg and to the delicate flying insect that they eventually become, which, of course this process is called metamorphosis. Yes, the magic of metamorphosis. It really is fascinating how it all happens, and honestly, have any just the act of metamorphosis alone could be an hour long episode of this show, just in and of itself, so I'll try not to go on too long here. First, a basic definition of the word from the standpoint of biology, metamorphosis is the change in the shape, structure, or form of an animal that happens as the animal becomes an adult. So in the case of butterflies, there are usually four recognized stages of metamorphosis. Those are eggs, larva sometimes more gently called caterpillar, but that's larva, pupa, which we also know as chrysalis, and then the adult or the butterfly itself. The whole process is pretty amazing when you think about it. If you take the well known monarch butterfly, for example, an adult monarch butterfly that drinks nectar from a variety of flowers nose to lay eggs, on a specific plant, the milkweed. The tiny little eggs no bigger than the tip of a pencil hatch out as little caterpillars that specifically need to eat milkweed, and that's the larva stage. Then, after getting nice and plump, growing quite a bit, they find a safe place to transform into a crysalists, the pupa stage. Inside the crysalists, some cells break down while others grow, and about two weeks later, a beautiful nectar drinking butterfly emerges, completely different than the plant eating caterpillar that was just a couple of weeks ago. Yes, I think that that process is like fascinates so many of us. So butterflies are invertebrates, animals without a backbone, like bees, ants and grasshoppers. Rick, do you think butterflies stand out among the other invertebrates, possibly because of the metamorphosis process that you just described, and and also because they're just beautiful with the colors and patterns. Oh yes, Ebony, I definitely can say that butterflies are probably some of the most popular invertebrates we think of when we think of colorful insects. But let's debunk a myth. Not all butterflies are colorful. Lots of butterflies are gray or brown, like the gray hair streak and common brown butterfly. And there are even colorless butterflies whose wings are see through, like the glass winged butterfly. But I invite our listeners to learn a little more about the world of invertebrates. There are some truly fascinating, colorful animals all over the world that we might otherwise dismiss it just it's a bug. But when it comes to the popularity of butterflies, I am sure they're colorations and patterns definitely play a role in making them so popular. But I also think the way they move and how we usually see them around flowers in the spring and summer, all that really kind of is a recipe for being an easily loved invertebrate. Yes, I think the connection to spring, I think that is a very good good point you make there that adds to people's fondness for them. So rick butterflies maybe one of the more popular insects overall. Butterflies are both insects and invertebrates. We're throwing out all of these terms, um, some of which I have to admit I just learned. But can we pause to explain what does it mean for a butterfly to be both an in sect and an invertebrate? Well, that is the tricky thing, sometimes, isn't ebony. We hear these terms and sometimes they sound like they are just interchangeable, just different words meaning the same thing. But in this case, it has more to do with how we classify animals. One way to think about it is like this, All insects are invertebrates, but not all invertebrates are insects. So you see, the word invertebrate means the animal does not have a backbone. This includes things like worms and crustaceans like crabs and lobsters. Along with worms and crustaceans, insects fall under the invertebrate category too, So therefore our friends, the butterfly are insects and insects are invertebrates. So cool fun fact there. So Rick, let's go over some of the other cool facts about butterflies. Like, I bet some people didn't know that butterflies actually use their feet to taste. Yeah, I know, it sounds so weird, doesn't it does? But it's true. Here's what we know butterflies have some taste buds on their antenna, and they do have some taste buds on their proboscis, the tube like structure they gather nectar with, But the highest concentration of taste buds it's on their feet. So why have taste buds on your feet? Well, as much as we may think it's to taste of flowers that they land on, many scientists believe it's to taste the type of plant they have landed on. And that's important to know because when you're looking to lay your eggs where your catapillars are going to hatch out and have to eat a particular plant, well, you need to know exactly what species of plant you landed on. And another interesting tidbit about these winged wonders is how they got their name. Rick, How did butterflies become known as butterflies? Well, I have to admit I thought the wrong thing for a long time growing up. I always thought it was just a simple plan words, you know, a flutterby and butterfly, But that's not true. It actually has to do with well, I hope you're all ready for this poop. The history on this is a little unclear, murky, you might even say, but from what we can best tell. Long ago, when Dutch scientists were studying butterflies, they noted that the first bit of excrement or frass as it's officially called, that came out of the butterfly upon leaving the chrysalis looked like butter so they gave it the name butterfly because of yellow poop. Rick. Somehow, all these conversations in somewhere or another, all roads lead back to poop, no matter how much we're trying to avoid it. Rick, I don't know if butterflies get enough credit for being pollinators. What wildlife benefits from butterfly pollination? Well, but I think for the most part, people understand the importance of having pollinators for their garden or for agriculture as an example, But when we think about a wild ecosystem, the same holds true. For instance, some butterfly species are very specific about what plants they'll visit, and some of those plants species are relying on specific butterfly species to pollinate them. When everything's imbalance in the ecosystem, all life thrives. The plants that the butterfly pollinate can propagate and reproduce properly. The animals that rely on those plants can use them for food sources and so on. But ecosystems are also delicately intertwined. Something as simple as a butterfly visiting a flower or not can make the difference between a healthy ecosystem and an unhealthy ecosystem. So interestingly, scientists monitor butterflies as a way of monitoring the effects of climate change. I was surprised to learn that Rick, what makes the butterflies just extra sensitive to climate change? With this one everything, I think we can look at our friend of the monarch butterfly again, you know, as as a great example of a butterfly that is impacted by climate change. With climate change, we see extremes happening, such as longer and hotter summers or colder and wetter winters. And many animals, especially the monarch butterfly, rely on cues from the environment, so seasonal temperature changes can trigger things like the reproductive cycle or kick off the migration for the season. When these environmental cues happen too early, too late, or sometimes not at all, butterflies may not have a chance to create the next generation or to migrate to a safe and appropriate environment. Additionally, climate change impacts many of the plant species that butterflies rely on for laying eggs and then of course for the caterpillars to eat. But it is worth noting there is a lot of work being done by some amazing people to give butterflies of fighting chance and a bright future. And just a few we're going to talk to the same ego zoos Curator of Entomology, that's the scientific name for an insect expert. We'll talk to her about butterfly conservation efforts right after this. Here's an update. The San Diego Zoo is part of a coalition of zoos advancing polar bear research. The aim is for the polar bears and zoos to help fill knowledge gaps about polar bears in native habitats. The research projects will range from energetics to nutrition to reproduction. Did you know you can see polar bears in the Arctic when you take a San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance Adventure store. The next polar bear expedition will be led by Dr Nicholas Pilfoeld, a San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance scientist who completed his PhD at the University of Alberta on polar bear ecology. Learn more at sdz w A dot org. We've been exploring the colorful world of butterflies. Now we're going to narrow our focus a bet to the Keynote checkerspot butterfly, which has been federally listed as endangered. Since joining the conversation page, Howorth the McKinney family, Curator of Invertebrates with San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance Welcome page. Thanks for having me abany So, with thousands of species of butterflies, what makes the Keyno checkered spot butterfly particularly significant? Well, all butterflies are important, and the Keyno checker spot butterflies in big trouble. You know, butterflies just in general are pollinators and they helped to contribute to, you know, the sustainability of native plants in their habitats. They're also food for a great many animals, so they're really important in the food web. And the Keyno checker spot we now has been declining precipitously since the nineteen eighties, and you know, most of that has to do with development encroachment, on their habitat and climate change. So how does scientists know that the Keyno Checkerspot butterflies are on the decline? What are the signs? So Keino live in these complexes, it's called a meta population. And meta populations are these contributing smaller populations that move freely within the habitat. And for Keino it's the San Diego National Wildlife Refuge. And so we know from monitoring those populations looking for adults, so checking for adult abundance, checking for larvae at certain times of year, mapping their habitat, for their host plant, which is what they eat, we know that they've been in serious decline for decades and as you mentioned, you know they've been listed since so it's pretty serious for Keyno Checkerspot butterflies. And can you tell us about the Keno Checker Spot butterfly rearing program? Yeah, so at the San Diego Zoo we've been doing what's called population augmentation, and that's a big word for you know, we raise larvae at would otherwise probably struggle in the habitat. We seasonally collect female butterflies that we think have already been made it and we bring them to the butterfly Conservation Lab at the zoo, and we encourage them to lay eggs in our lab. We rear those larvae and then we protect them. We keep them until it's time to release them into the habitat. And Kino have kind of an interesting mechanism called dia pause, which is just a period of rest and energy conservation and insects. But for Keino checker spots, it happens at a time when you normally think butterflies flying around. Um. It happens in the summer, and that's because their plants dry up in their habitat during the summer, So the caterpillars actually kind of go to sleep after just a couple of months in the spring and they wait out the hot, dry summer, and then in the fall they wake up when the rains come, if they come. So what does it take to rear a Keno larvae? Patients lots of patients. Keino deposit their eggs in big clusters, so instead of having one caterpillar to worry about, you have of thousands, and there's an economy of scale when you're when you're doing these projects. The butterfly conservation lab isn't very big, but you know, we've had seasons where we've reared five thousand larvae in one season. So they're very tiny, and they hatch out and again they only feed for about two months and then they go into diapause, so they shed their skin and they go into this period of rest and they're still only about four to six millimeters long. So we keep them in post plant, we feed them. We have pretty stringent disinfection protocols for the plants that are coming in to keep them free of you know, predators and parasites and also bacteria. There's a lot of painstaking work moving caterpillars which are tiny and fragile with paint brushes. So it's a lot of attention to detail and a lot of sort of thinking like an insect to rear Kino checkerspot butterflies. The butterfly conservation lab that you just reference was built in what of reef archers learned about this species. Since that time, we've been able to confirm a lot uh and learn some new things about Keino just from the way that we release them. We have this soft release strategy and we call them pods, so they are finch seed feeders that we've painted chaparral brown because that's where they're going. So the seed feeders have holes that are large enough to allow these sleeping caterpillars to escape it when they do break diapause and wake up in the habitat, and so we're able to put them in place in the habitat where they can receive all the cues from the environment, which is much better as sort of that rainy season approaches. So we put the pods out, we wire them two shrubs in the habitat at the release sites, and then we can monitor them because we know where they are, so we can take a GPS of that position and know that we can come back to it and check it. And we do that after every season to find out, you know, did all the larvae leave the pod, did some stay behind? Who's living in the pods with them? That's always fun. So yeah, we've learned a lot and been able to confirm a lot of things that were theorized about um keno, which is that they don't have to wake up every season to feed, and they also have gone all the way through to adulthood in one season, which is not you know, they're typical, so they have very plastic behavior. So the first time for one of these releases, I understand, was from seventeen when a team of wildlife biologists from the Sant Diego Zoo, US Fish and Wildlife Service and the Conservation Biology Institute released more than seventeen hundred larvae of the endangered Keynoe checkerspot butterfly on the San Diego National Wildlife Refuge. So how did that very first release go? So honestly, the very first release was terrifying because we had these tiny larvae. It was dry as a bone out there. We've been through this record drought, and we knew that we'd be released seeing them in this novel way, in these pods where you know they we're just going to put them in the habitat and you know, and kind of let them experience it. So we were pretty worried. We knew that rain was coming, and so that made it a little bit more hopeful, and of course rain did come. It reigned with a vengeance. And so that first year, our first release site, we counted in one day thirty five adult butterflies that were the result of that release. And so I always characterized that as like seeing a unicorn. Seeing one would be amazing, but seeing thirty five unicorns in one day is pretty spectacular. So that was a great first season and what's the latest development with that project? So since that initial release, we've reared and released over fifteen thousand larvae into the Sandy Even National Wildlife Refuge. But we still have always to go to establish a self sustaining population. And even though the rearing component is really important obviously to this recovery project, there's no chance for keno without suitable habitat and detections. And that's where our partners come in the US Fish and Wildlife Service Wild Spring Ecology Conservation Biology Institute. They're mapping habitat, finding suitable release sites, mitigating invasive plants, all of these things that impact you know, quality Keino habitat, and of course providing funding for the work that we do. So we know that we're heading into another dry period and we know that Keno are really flexible and they're going to continue to surprise us. So we just want to fly everything that we've learned to kind of get through this next dry period, whatever that looks like. So when working on butterfly conservation and efforts, to protect butterflies, is there also a possible benefit to other species um, such as SPEs. Absolutely, bees are going to benefit from any measures that you know are happening for butterflies. And and a great example of that is just you know, keeping invasive plants out of these areas and making sure that the native plants have the ability to you know, sustain in these habitats because you know, bees are incredibly important pollinators and um, they also suffer from the same threats like habitat loss and um you know, pest siety use. So it's very important to protect pollinators with capital b and with so much work going into protecting these species, UM, can we just kind of drive home for folks just the important role that pollinators play in our environment. Pollinators are incredibly important. I think everybody when they think pollinators, they think about honey bees because honey bees are such agricultural workhorses. But in fact, honey bees are not native and we have so many native pollinators that are in trouble, especially bees who really do also contribute to the food supply UM in ways that butterflies don't. Butterflies are incredibly important because everything eats them, so again, they're that critical link in the food web. Um So, I think, you know things people can do is advocate for pollinators, and there's a lot of ways to do that. There's federal legislation that you can get involved in for monarchs, there's um even at the local level. You know, there's been some really cool developments with landscape ordinances that require native landscaping and native habitats support native species, and so that's something that anybody can do. They can turn their yard into a native landscape for pollinators. And then also just you know, providing nectar, avoiding pesticides, don't use pesticides. All these things are going to help bees and butterflies and birds which are also pollinators. Page Howarth, thank you so much for talking with us. Thank you, thanks for having me, Thanks for listening. We hope you learn a lot about butterflies, and be sure to subscribe and tune into next week's episode, in which will bring to the story of animals that can fool us. I'm any Money and I'm Rick Schwartz. Thanks for listening. If you would like to find out more about San Diego Zoo wild Back Alliance, please visit sdz w A dot org. Amazing Wildlife as a production of I Heart Radio. Our producer is Nikia Swinton and our executive producer is Marcy to Peanut. Our sound engineer and editor is Amita Gnatra. For more shows from my heart Radio, check out the I heart Radio app, Apple podcast, or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.