"Butterflies?â youâre thinking. âBut theyâre so ⦠fluttery!â And youâre right. They are very fluttery. But their eating habits are revolting. Hereâs a look at some of the the gross things theyâve been known to tuck into.Â
Letâs start at the beginning. In kindergarten, you were taught that butterflies are nectar feeders, sipping their sugary meals from flowers. This is still mostly true. But nectar is only one food group, and those other nutrients have to come from somewhere.
After a rainstorm, itâs not uncommon in certain areas to see a whole mess of butterflies sitting on the ground, sucking up mud. This practice is known as âmud-puddlingâ or simply â puddling ,â and scientists believe certain butterfly species do it to round out their salt, nitrogen, protein, and amino acid intake.
Naturally, mud is just the beginning.
If youâve ever visited a butterfly house, youâve likely seen some delighted small child with a butterfly on her arm. âHe likes me!â she says. Delighted Small Child is mistaken. Itâs not her friendship heâs after, but her precious, precious sweat . Or maybe heâs interested in her tears: In 2014, one butterfly was observed drinking the tears of a sunning spectacled caiman, and photo evidence shows they drink the tears of tortoises, too.
Delighted Small Child might have been wrong about the butterfly liking her, but she probably was not mistaken about the butterflyâs sex, however: Most puddlers are males. Scientists believe that for most butterflies, the sodium goes straight to the sperm, which is then given as a ânuptial giftâ to the female, giving the future offspring a better chance of surviving.
Butterflies love urineââa fact taken advantage of by collectors,â writes the author of the Handbook for Butterfly Watchers . Some species of butterfly will even consume their own bodily fluids: Theyâll secrete a liquid onto dried up sweat or a dried puddle of a larger animalâs urine so they can lap up the freshly dissolved minerals.
Back to the butterfly house. If Delighted Small Child injures herself, her helpful butterfly buddy will be there to help clean up the blood . By drinking it.
From a butterflyâs perspective, larger animals like humans are probably just big restaurants. And what leftovers! Animal poop is full of all kinds of helpful nutrients, which butterflies will feast upon when given the chance.
You know what else is full of nutrients? Dead bodies!
Rotting animal flesh is a huge butterfly favorite [ PDF ]âso much so that researchers have begun baiting tropical butterfly traps with shrimp heads, chunks of dead snake, and prawn paste. Texture is key; since butterflies have no teeth, they can essentially only âlickâ the rotting meat. âTraps were baited and checked for cycles of five days, with extra bait added each day to ensure a range of decay,â wrote one scientist in her report. Butterfly researchers really donât get enough credit.
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A version of this story originally ran in 2018; it has been updated for 2025.