Because they feed through what is essentially a double barreled straw, butterfly diets are exclusively liquids. The preferred diets will vary considerably depending upon the butterfly species. While people generally think of butterflies as feeding from the nectar of flowers, other common diets include mud, cow dung, water and tree sap. People often ask if butterflies are important pollinators. The answer is, with some important exceptions, no.
Bees are the pollinating workhorses of the world.
For those species that are pollinators the pollen will stick to the proboscis or legs and be deposited involuntarily on the next flower visited. The butterflies' ears, tight membranes similar to a human eardrum are also located here. Though it cannot be seen, these membranes have hairs just under them. When a sound wave hits the membrane, the membrane vibrates and touches these hairs. When stimulated, the hairs send a message to the brain indicating the direction and distance of the sound from the individual.