Butterflies

About 100 miles northwest of Mexico City in the UNESCO-designated Monarch Butterfly Biosphere Reserve, up to a billion of the brilliant-winged insects spend November to March clustered on branches.

A Ring of Fire, Millions of Monarchs and Other Rare Natural Phenomena Worth Traveling For

Be in the right place at the right time to witness these sublime sights

Atlas Moth by Uday Hegde, the second-place winner in the butterflies and dragonflies category of this year's Close-up Photographer of the Year competition

These Awe-Inspiring Images Capture the World's Little Details

See this year's winners of the annual Close-up Photographer of the Year competition

Pure Structural Color is made of several extremely thin sheets of non-conductive material. These layers are stacked together and imprinted, or stamped, with a nano-scale pattern of rods with curved ends. This pattern scatters light into colors that are visible from all directions, and different hues can be produced by changing the dimensions of the pattern.

Art Meets Science

This British Zoologist Wants to Reinvent Color

Andrew Parker has produced some of the brightest hues in the world. So, what’s his secret?

Monarch populations are declining.

Migratory Monarch Butterflies Are Listed as an Endangered Species

According to the International Union for Conservation of Nature, the iconic North American butterfly is getting closer to extinction

One reader wonders: Since purple dye was scarce, why didn’t people just combine blue and red?

Why Was Purple the Color of Royalty? And More Questions From Our Readers

You've got questions. We've got experts.

Monarch butterflies cluster together to stay warm.

Monarch Butterfly Numbers Soar in California After Dramatic Losses

The orange-winged insect's population increased from 2,000 in 2020 to nearly 250,000 in 2021

A CT scan of the spiral intestine of a Pacific spiny dogfish shark (Squalus suckleyi). The organ begins on the left and ends on the right.

Innovation for Good

Ten Scientific Discoveries From 2021 That May Lead to New Inventions

From nanobots to cancer treatments, nature inspires a wide variety of innovations

To view the wings without damaging the delicate cells, the research team used speckle-correlation reflection phase microscopy. This type of microscopy works by shinning tiny points of light onto a specific area on the wing.

See Microscopic Butterfly Wing Scales Materialize Inside of a Chrysalis

The study is the most detailed look at the structures to date and could be used to design new materials

A cluster of western monarch butterflies clings to a branch as it overwinters in California.

The Best Place to Watch Monarch Butterflies Migrate Might Be This Little California Beach Town

Thousands of western monarchs migrate to Pismo Beach each fall to escape winter cold, but climate change threatens the species' survival

This is the 93-year-old Xerces blue butterfly specimen that researchers collected tissue samples from for this study.

New Research

This Butterfly Is the First U.S. Insect to Be Wiped Out by Humans

Genetic tests using museum specimens suggest that the Xerces blue was a distinct species and that it disappeared in 1941

Butterflies in Mexico’s monarch reserve. Their wings can function as solar panels, converting sunlight into energy for flight.

An Epic Monarch Migration Faces New Threats

The butterflies’ path, which stretches thousands of miles, is endangered by an array of challenges, including changes in climate and pesticides

The migration advances an average of 25 to 30 miles a day. A cyclist can cover similar distances.

What I Learned Biking the 10,000-Mile Migration Route of Monarch Butterflies

I set off to be the first person to cycle alongside the butterflies to raise awareness of their alarming decline

The western monarch butterfly has declined by 99.9 percent since the 1980s, according to the latest population assessment.

New Research

Climate Change Lays Waste to Butterflies Across American West

Study documents declines across hundreds of species over recent decades, and finds years featuring warmer, drier autumns are particularly deadly

Silver-washed fritillary butterfly

New Research

Study Reveals the Secrets of Butterfly Flight

The fluttering insects create tiny jets of air by clapping their flexible wings together, which may help them evade predators

America's eastern monarch population has fallen by about 80 percent, and the western population by 99 percent, but the Fish and Wildlife Service doesn't grant endangered status to specific populations of invertebrate species.

Why Monarch Butterflies Aren't Getting Endangered Species Status

Monarch butterflies qualify for protections, but 161 other species have higher priority

Monarch butterfly caterpillars will headbutt each other when food is scarce, according to new research.

New Research

Monarch Caterpillars Butt Heads Over Milkweed

A new study finds the colorful butterfly larvae will aggressively lunge at each other in pursuit of an extra mouthful of food

Some eastern monarch butterflies travel about 3,000 miles to reach their overwintering sites in Mexico.

New Research

Hand-Reared Monarch Butterflies Are Weaker Than Their Wild Cousins

In the wild, only about one in 20 caterpillars grows up to be a butterfly

Western monarch butterflies spend winter gathered in California's coastal groves.

Your Butterfly Photos Could Help Monarch Conservation

As monarchs leave their winter hideaways, conservationists are seeking assistance in studying their migration routes

Heliconius charithonia is one of the species of butterflies whose wing patterns scientists scrutinized to better understand the evolutionary process. This butterfly is wild-type; the genetically edited H. charithonia wings have wider swathes of yellow.

What Butterflies' Colorful Wing Patterns Can Teach Us About Evolution

Smithsonian scientists used genetically-engineered butterflies to learn that evolution can take a different path to achieve the same thing

Curious sculptures have popped up throughout the Smithsonian campus in its gardens and are meant to show the inner-workings and relationships of insect and plant habitats.

The Gardens Around the National Mall Are Growing Giant Nests and Fanciful Tunnels

The new exhibition “Habitat” is a whimsical, art-filled lesson on ecosystems and how they work

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