File:Butterfly Dimension.jpg

English: A butterfly's life has four stages. It starts as an egg, typically attached to the underside of a leaf. The egg hatches into the butterfly's larval form -- the caterpillar. A caterpillar's job is to consume enough food to sustain itself during its transformation into a butterfly. This transformation takes place in the butterfly's pupal stage, when the butterfly is inside its chrysalis. Finally, an adult butterfly emerges from the chrysalis. While the larval butterfly was built for eating, the adult is built for mating. Butterflies reproduce the way other animals do -- sperm from a male fertilizes eggs from a female. Males and females of the same species recognize one another by the size, color, shape and vein structure of the wings, all of which are species specific. Butterflies also recognize each other through pheromones, or scents. During mating, males use clasping organs on their abdomens to grasp females.