Cairns birdwing
The Cairns birdwing is a huge butterfly, so big it can look like a small bird flying by. The male is black with shining emerald green patches. The female is even bigger, black with white patches. It is the biggest butterfly found only in Australia.
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Fun facts
A female's wings can measure up to 15 centimetres from tip to tip, bigger than a grown-up's hand.
It flutters its wings very fast while it drinks, so it does not have to put its weight on the flower.
Males sometimes chase small birds away from their favourite flowers.
A female can lay as many as 300 eggs in her life.
Once, one unusual mother had babies with pale females and golden males instead of green ones.
Most asked questions about Cairns birdwing
?How big is the Cairns birdwing?
Females can have wings up to 15 centimetres across, and males up to about 12.5 centimetres.
?What does the Cairns birdwing eat?
The butterfly drinks flower nectar. The caterpillars eat the leaves of native pipevines.
?Is the Cairns birdwing endangered?
No. It is common where it lives in Queensland and is not threatened.
For bug experts
- Scientific name
- Ornithoptera euphorion
- Group
- Butterflies
- Family
- Papilionidae
- Classification
- Insecta > Lepidoptera > Papilionidae
- Lives on
- Australia and Oceania
- Also known as
- Cooktown birdwing, Northern birdwing
Where the facts come from
- Ornithoptera euphorion (Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0): what it looks like, where it lives, what it eats, sizes and fun facts, retold in simple words.
- Picture by Bernard Spragg. NZ from Christchurch, New Zealand. CC0, Wikimedia Commons. The round sticker of this bug is cut from the same picture.
If we got something wrong, sorry, we are bug fans, not a science journal. Tell us at [email protected] and we will fix it.
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