northeast-flora-and-fauna

Here's another example of mudpuddling butterflies, in this case Pearl Crescents . And as I've shown before, animal scat can be more nutritionally beneficial than mud, containing a concentration of minerals unlikely to be found anywhere. Mudpuddling seems to be mostly a male activity. You might think this is because they need more nutrition to fight off other males looking to mate, but in many cases their motivation is more fatherly; males will frequently pass these nutrients as a " nuptial gift " to females during mating [1]. Another interesting thing about mudpuddling is that the activity draws other butterflies in. Apparently a spot perceived to be good for mudpuddling is sufficiently valuable to butterflies that if they see others using the spot they are likely to check it out themselves. Sometimes a good spot will attract dozens of butterflies, maybe spanning a few different species. August 15, 2021 at Duke Farms Photo 152591517, (c) jpviolette, some rights reser...