Original photo by patty_c/istock
The animal kingdom is a wide and varied world, and Mother Nature has come up with some surprising ways to accomplish a variety of feats. Bats “see” with their ears, snakes “smell” with their tongue, and perhaps most strangely of all, butterflies “taste” with their feet. Although some of a butterfly’s taste receptors are located on their tube-shaped mouthparts and antennae, most are found on their tarsus, or the bottom segment of their legs. The location of these receptors may seem odd, but they’re vital to a butterfly’s survival.
Oops, incorrect!
It's a fibA popular myth is that the word “butterfly” is actually a rearrangement of the insect’s original name, “flutterby.” However, historical evidence suggests that the insect has been associated with butter in various legends and languages for at least 1,000 years.
Before a butterfly transforms into an adult, it spends its early days as a caterpillar gorging on surrounding plant material and growing, in some cases, around 1,000 times its birth weight. Some caterpillars can munch on a family of plants; the black swallowtail (Papilio polyxenes), for example, is also known as the “parsley worm” because it will eat several plants related to parsley, such as carrots, celery, and parsnips. However, the caterpillar of an endangered monarch butterfly (Danaus plexippus) only eats milkweed. Whether a “generalist” or a “specialist” eater, a butterfly uses its feet to analyze a leaf’s chemicals, a process called “contact chemoreception.” The chemoreceptors are especially important in allowing female butterflies to “taste” if a plant is safe for her larvae, who will start eating it shortly after hatching. The process isn’t perfect, however. In the monarch butterfly’s case, it can sometimes be tricked into laying its eggs on an invasive plant species, such as black swallow-wort, causing the larvae to die within a few days. That’s why ongoing conservation efforts focus on both planting native milkweed and eliminating any invasive competitors, to make the world safer for monarchs — and their feet.
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Butterflies use a tube-like mouthpart called a ______ for feeding.
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Butterflies use a tube-like mouthpart called a proboscis for feeding.
Human feet produce half a pint of perspiration a day on average.
With some 250,000 sweat glands between the two of them (more than any other part of the body), human feet are sweat-producing machines that pump out upwards of a half-pint of sweat a day. If you happen to be one of the unlucky few afflicted with excessively sweaty feet via plantar hyperhidrosis, that number is even higher. Don’t get too grossed-out, though — most of that sweat is lost to evaporation (or soaked into your socks). To a certain degree, sweaty feet are normal. Sweat protects skin from germs, provides an avenue for the body to release water and salt, and most importantly, keeps us cool. Some scientists think sweat on the soles of our feet may also have helped early ancestors increase their foot grip when running. Along with all those sweat glands, the human foot is loaded with 7,000 nerve endings. So besides being somewhat sweaty, feet are also devilishly ticklish.
Darren Orf lives in Portland, has a cat, and writes about all things science and climate. You can find his previous work at Popular Mechanics, Inverse, Gizmodo, and Paste, among others.
