Scientists Have Finally Figured Out How Butterflies Fly And It’s So Cool
I have to admit, I’ve never much thought about how butterflies float through the air before, but this is so cool!
Scientists have finally figured out how butterflies fly, and it’s pretty genius.
It literally seems like these lighter-than-air beauties are floating on wisps of air, and they kind of are.
Biologists from Sweden’s Lund University set out to test a 50-year-old theory, that butterflies “clap” their wings together, pushing out the trapped air to create a jet and push the animal in the opposite direction.
CNN World
Butterflies look different from many other flying animals, compared to birds and bats. They have a very extreme wing shape — very large, short but very broad wings compared to their little body. That is a bit of a puzzle, because that sort of wing is quite inefficient.
Henningsson, Associate Professor of Biology, Lund University
According to CNN World, a group of biologists studied free-flying butterflies, and found that their “wings were behaving in an unusual way — instead of slamming together, as two flat surfaces, the wings bent to create a “pocket shape,” which would capture more air, and improve propulsion.”
This “pocket” of trapped air that the butterfly creates by “clapping” its wings is what allows it to float and fly through the air.
Another cool thing about their wings, instead of being tough, and rigid, butterflies have flexible wings that allow them to take off quickly. This is probably an evolutionary adaptation that allows them to quickly escape predators.
If you have kids and LOVE butterflies like I do, you should check out these 20 Butterfly Learing Activities. They are so fun!
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Investigadores de la Universidad de Lund, en Suecia, han confirmado una antigua hipótesis, de hace unos 50 años, que explica cómo las mariposas logran volar con sus alas anchas y cortas. Mediante experimentos en túneles de viento, cámaras de cámara lenta y modelos robóticos triangulares que imitan las alas de las mariposas, descubrieron que, durante el vuelo ascendente, las mariposas “aplauden” sus alas. Pero en lugar de un impacto plano, sus alas flexibles se doblan formando una copa que atrapa y expulsa el aire en forma de chorro, generando un empuje significativo. Este “aplauso en copa” aumenta el impulso en aproximadamente un 22 % y la eficiencia en un 28 % en comparación con los movimientos rígidos de las alas, lo que ayuda a las mariposas a acelerar rápidamente, evadir depredadores y mantener el vuelo.
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Another cool thing about their wings, instead of being tough, and rigid, butterflies have flexible wings that allow them to take off quickly. This is probably an evolutionary adaptation that allows them to quickly escape predators.
Butterflies look different from many other flying animals, compared to birds and bats.