Mourning Cloak Butterfly

   Hey guys! This week I’m going to be talking about the Mourning Cloak Butterfly! This butterfly, to me, is one of the most fascinating due to its ability to survive through the winter. I love the name of this one too, which refers to its resemblance to a traditional cloak worn when one was mourning the death of a loved one. Very unique i believe. Well I hope it's enjoy learning more about them!

   The Mourning Cloak butterfly can be identified by its short projections on both of its wings, which border irregular. The upper part of their wings is a purple-black color with a wide, bright yellow border and a row of iridescent blue spots along the inner part of the border. Their wing span is between 2 ¼- 4 inches. The Mourning Cloaks can live up to 10 months as an adult, which is a long life span for a butterfly. The mourning cloak caterpillar is velvety black with raised white spots and rows of red spots and long spines that form through the middle of their back. The Mourning Cloak caterpillar can grow to be as long as two inches.

    The Mourning Cloak is capable of surviving the cold of the winter through "cryo-preservation," a generic term for the various methods used by animals that have not evolved a migratory pattern and must therefore endure temperature extremes.  Animals that are around during the winter usually have the most problems with the formation of ice on their bodies and in their body tissue which cause the animal to die. The Mourning Cloak doesn’t have this problem due to the chemicals that the butterfly secretes that act like an anti-freeze which therefore prevents ice formation.