butterfly

The eyes on the wings of a butterfly can look kind of strange, but they're not looking at you, they're just a deflecting mechanism. Like a lot of butterfly species, the African satyrid butterfly's eyespots make predators more likely to attack its wings rather than the more vital parts of its body.

In 2020 an interdisciplinary team of American researchers published a study on how butterflies keep their wings cool. Using a specialized infrared camera, they found that the living parts of the wings, around the wing veins, were best at radiating heat.

Among butterflies, the monarch really stands out with its beautiful orange and black colors. These colors evolved to warn predators about the monarch's toxic compounds that disrupt a sodium ion pumping mechanism in cells.