Click here to see the mourning cloak's legs up close. The thorax has strong muscles that help the butterfly move its legs and wings. The butterfly's heart and stomach are in its abdomen. Butterflies with long narrow wings can fly very fast. Butterflies with larger wings can float and glide in the air.
Butterflies use their wings to soak up the sun's rays when the weather is cold.
Scales Tiny colorful scales cover the both sides of a butterfly's wings. Scales with different colors make patterns and designs on the wings. These patterns are almost the same on the left and right wings, but patterns are very different on the front and back of the wing. Some butterflies have very colorful wings so other butterflies can see them and find them when they want to mate. Sometimes brightly colored butterflies are poisonous and bad-tasting.