Some species of caterpillars (in the family Lycaenidae) are tended by ants. The caterpillars have special glands that make a sweet liquid called honeydew. The ants like the honeydew. In return for the honeydew, the ants protect the caterpillars from predators. The caterpillars also have special body parts that make sounds. The caterpillar will make sounds with the body parts and "call" the ants when the caterpillar is being attacked by predators. The ants hear the sounds and come to protect the caterpillar.
Caterpillars in the subfamily Miletinae eat insects in the order Hemiptera. This includes aphids, mealybugs, leafhoppers and treehoppers.
Caterpillars in the family Papilionidae have a special organ. This organ is called an osmeterium. It is a bad-smelling gland that is shaped like a snake's tongue. It is kept behind the inside of the head. When a predator tries to eat the caterpillar, the caterpillar will release the osmeterium. This scares the predators away.
The pupa (plural, pupae) is formed after the last moult. The caterpillar will find a special place to pupate (pupate means to turn into a pupa). The digestive tract is emptied. The caterpillar sheds its skin. The pupa is now exposed. The caterpillar's tissues are broken down and rebuilt into the butterfly's tissues.
The pupa cannot move. It is attached to an object by tiny hooks on the end of the abdomen. These hooks make up what is called the cremaster. There are many tiny holes on the pupa. They allow respiratory gases to move in and out of the pupa.
Many pupae are easy for predators to attack. Some caterpillars (in the family Hesperiidae and the subfamilies Parnassiinae and Satyrinae) make shelters out of silk and leaves to protect themselves when they become pupae. These shelters are called cocoons. Most butterfly pupae do not have cocoons to protect themselves. Instead, the pupae have brown or green colours to camouflage themselves among leaves and branches. Pupae that do not have cocoons are called chrysalids or chrysalises.
Some butterflies may be in trouble because of habitat loss. Because of the destruction of forests and grasslands, some types of butterflies have nowhere to feed and lay eggs. To help, some people plant a butterfly garden with flowers having lots of nectar for butterflies to feed on. Some people also keep plants that butterflies lay eggs on, and enjoy watching the caterpillars hatch out and feed on the plant. Chemical sprays that are used to keep pests away from garden plants, also kill butterflies.
Nazism
Nazism (or National Socialism; ) is a set of political beliefs associated with the Nazi Party of Germany. It started in the 1920's, but the Nazi Party gained power in 1933, starting the Third Reich. They lasted in Germany until 1945, at the end of World War II. National Socialism is an extreme right-wing, economically opportunistic ideology that is heavily inspired from the works of Oswald Spengler. The Nazis believed that only the Aryan race was capable of building nations and other races, notably the Jewish race, were agents of the corruptive forces of capitalism and bolshevism, both of which the Nazis opposed. The Nazis blamed the Jewish people for Germany's defeat in World War I. This is known as the Stab in the Back Myth. The Nazis also blamed the Jewish people for rapid inflation and practically every other economic woe facing Germany at the time as a result of their defeat in World War I. For this reason, the Nazis not only viewed the Jewish people as inferior to them, but as oppressors of the Aryan people. The Nazis' tactic of lazily albeit effectively blaming the Jewish people for all of Germany's problems is a propaganda tactic known as scapegoating and was used to justify the great atrocities committed by the Nazis against the Jewish people.
To implement the racist ideas, the Nuremberg Race Laws (created in 1935) banned non-Aryans and political opponents of the Nazis from the civil-service. They also forbid any sexual contact between 'Aryan' and 'non-Aryan' persons.
The Nazis sent millions of Jews, Roma, and other people to concentration camps and death camps, where they were killed. These killings are now called the Holocaust.
The word "Nazi" is short for "Nationalsozialist" (supporter of the "Nationalsozialistische Deutsche Arbeiterpartei") in the German language. This means "National Socialist German Workers' Party".
Adolf Hitler, the leader of Nazi Germany, wrote a book called "Mein Kampf" ("My Struggle"). The book said that all of Germany's problems happened because Jews were making plans to hurt the country. He also said that Jewish and communist politicians planned the Armistice of 1918 that ended World War I, and allowed Germany to agree to pay huge amounts of money and goods (reparations).
On the night of the 27 February 1933 and 28 February 1933, someone set the Reichstag building on fire. This was the building where the German Parliament held their meetings. The Nazis blamed the communists. Opponents of the Nazis said that the Nazis themselves had done it to come to power. On the very same day, an emergency law called "Reichstagsbrandverordnung" was passed. The government claimed it was to protect the state from people trying to hurt the country. With this law, most of the civil rights of the Weimar Republic did not count any longer. The Nazis used this against the other political parties. Members of the communist and social-democratic parties were put into prison or killed.
The Nazis became the biggest party in the parliament. By 1934, they managed to make all other parties illegal. Democracy was replaced with a dictatorship. Adolf Hitler became leader ("Führer") of Germany.
As the German leader (Führer) of Nazi Germany, Hitler began moving Nazi armies into neighboring countries. When Germany attacked Poland, World War II started. Western countries like France, Belgium, and the Netherlands were occupied and to be treated by Germany as colonies. However, in Eastern countries, such as Poland and the Soviet Union, the Nazis planned to kill or enslave the Slavic peoples, so that German settlers could take their land.
The Nazis made alliances with other European countries, such as Finland and Italy. Every other European country that allied with Germany did it because they did not want to be taken over by Germany. Through these alliances and invasions, the Nazis managed to control much of Europe.
In the Holocaust, millions of Jews, as well as Roma people (also called "Gypsies"), people with disabilities, homosexuals, political opponents, and many other people were sent to concentration camps and death camps in Poland and Germany. The Nazis killed millions of these people at the concentration camps with poison gas. The Nazis also killed millions of people in these groups by forcing them to do slave labor without giving them much food or clothing. In total, 17 million people died, 6 million of them being Jews.
In 1945, the Soviet Union took over Berlin after beating the German army in Russia. The Soviet Red Army met the American and British armies, who had fought right across Germany after invading Nazi Europe from Normandy in France on June 6,1944. The Nazis lost because the Allies had many more soldiers and more money than them.
During the invasion of Berlin, Hitler may have shot himself in a bunker with his new wife, Eva Braun. Other Nazis also killed themselves, including Joseph Goebbels just one day after Hitler named him as his successor. The Nazis surrendered after the Red Army captured Berlin.