Origami n' Stuff 4 Kids: insect

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Monarch Butterfly

With its distinctive orange and black markings, the monarch butterfly is the most famous of North American butterflies, best known for its long migrations.

No single butterfly survives the journey. Instead, it takes four generations of butterflies to travel south to southern California and Mexico to winter in warmer climates. There, they roost by the thousands, sometimes covering trees. In the spring, they begin the long migration back up to the United States and Canada.

The monarch butterfly is the official state butterfly of Alabama, Minnesota, Vermont and West Virginia.

Print and Fold a Monarch Butterfly Origami:

Difficulty: Easy

Directions: Follow the same directions as below.

1a. Print and cut out image along outer solid lines.

2a. With printed side facing down,

2b. Fold in half along diagonal line.

2c. Unfold and repeat the diagonal fold on other side.

3a. With printed side facing up,

3b. Fold in half along horizontal line.

3c. Unfold. Your paper should be creased as illustrated.

4. Carefully fold along creases, forming a "tent" as illustrated.

5a. Fold the right "tent" corner up along line A, as illustrated.
5b. Fold the left "tent" corner up along line B, as illustrated.

6a. Turn butterfly over, printed side down.
6b. Fold down along line C.
6c. Pinch or crease in center as illustrated.

Your monarch butterfly is ready to fly!

Squeaking Caterpillars!

At first glance, this caterpillar looks too cute to be true, like a rubber squeaky toy...

Photo by Kirby Wolfe.

To find out if it was real, I translated the video's description, which led me to Usutabiga (ウスタビガ), the Japanese name for the Saturniid moth, Rhodinia fugax. Found throughout Japan, China and North Korea, this silk moth has the amazing capacity as larvae to produce squeaking noises when disturbed. They can even squeak from inside their cocoons...

According to LiveScience.com,

"Caterpillars apparently can whistle, letting out squeaks that can fend off attacking birds, scientists have now found.

They don't whistle by puckering their lips and blowing, since they don't have lips. Instead, they blow out their sides, researchers said.

Scientists have known for more than 100 years that many caterpillars can generate clicking or squeaking noises. However, researchers have only recently begun to experimentally investigate how these noises are made and what roles they might play."

Other members of the Saturniid moth family are also known for larvae that produce clicking sounds with their mandibles (jaws) as a warning before secreting stinky chemicals, and some are covered with stinging hairs. (Warning: you should never handle a caterpillar that is covered in spines or hair, because they often contain venom that can cause a painful skin reaction.)

The eggs of the squeaky silkmoth overwinter and hatch in the spring. Caterpillars feed on oak, walnut, hawthorn, sycamore, birch and rose before spinning a pitcher-plant shaped cocoon. Adults have a 3.5-inch wingspan.

©Tammy Yee

Kamehameha Butterfly Origami (Pulelehua)

Pulelehua (Kamehameha Butterfly)

Scientific name: Vanessa tameamea

The pulelehua, or Kamehameha butterfly, is one of only two butterflies native to Hawai'i. With its bright red wings, bold black borders, and 2 1/2 inch wingspan, pulelehua are often seen fluttering near koa trees, where adults feed on the sweet sap oozing from broken branches.

Pulelehua lay their eggs on the mamaki plant, a native shrub that was sometimes used by Hawaiians to make a coarse tapa (the leaves are also used to make an herbal tea). Young caterpillars protect themselves by cutting a flap of leaf, pulling it over themselves, and securing it with silk to make a shelter. As they grow older, the caterpillars sit motionless on the branches, waiting for nightfall. Once the sun has set and the forest birds have gone to sleep, it is safe for the caterpillars to venture onto the leaves to eat. Even their chrysalis is well-camouflaged, looking like a withered leaf. In a little over two weeks, the chrysalis splits open, and out pops a beautiful pulelehua!

Print and Fold Hawaii's State Butterfly, the Pulelehua

Difficulty: Easy

Directions:

1. Print and cut out origami butterfly.

2a. With printed side facing down,
2b. Fold in half along diagonal line.
2c. Unfold and repeat the diagonal fold on other side.

3a. With printed side facing up,
3b. Fold in half along horizontal line.
3c. Unfold. Your origami should be creased as illustrated.

4. Carefully fold along creases, forming a "tent" as illustrated.

5a. Fold the right "tent" corner up along line A, as illustrated.
5b. Fold the left "tent" corner up along line B, as illustrated.

6a. Turn butterfly origami over, printed side down.
6b. Fold down along line C.
6c. Pinch or crease in center as illustrated.

Your butterfly origami is ready to fly!

Pulelehua (Kamehameha Butterfly) Origami

Spicebush Swallowtail Butterfly Origami

This black swallowtail butterfly can be found in the eastern United States, and occasionally as far north as southern Ontario and south to Cuba. Caterpillars feed on spicebush or sassafras, while adults feed on nectar from azaleas, milkweed and thistle flowers.

The spicebush swallowtail is the official state butterfly of Mississippi.

Difficulty: Easy

Directions:

For the next few steps, follow instructions to Monarch Butterfly Origami:
2a. Print and cut out your two-tailed swallowtail origami. With printed side facing down,
2b. Fold in half diagonally along B.
2c. Unfold and repeat the diagonal fold along C.

3a. With printed side facing up,
3b. Fold in half horizontally along A.
3c. Unfold. Your origami should be creased as illustrated.

4. Carefully fold along creases, forming a "tent" as illustrated.

5a. Fold the right "tent" corner up along D, as illustrated.
5b. Fold the left "tent" corner up along E, as illustrated.

6. Your Origami Swallowtail Butterfly should look like this:

7. Turn butterfly origami over, printed side down.

8a. Fold up along F. Note that corners will pull in to either side.
8b. Crease corners flat, as indicated by arrows.

9. Turn your origami butterfly over.

10a. Fold butterfly in half vertically, so wings are together.
10b. Crease one wing down, diagonally, to form body.
10b. Fold down the other wing, diagonally, as shown.

11. Open wings up. Your butterfly is done!

Two-tailed Swallowtail Butterfly Origami

Arizona's official state butterfly, the two-tailed swallowtail, can be found throughout Arizona and in parts of California, New Mexico, Utah, Colorado and Nevada.

Found in canyons feeding on chokecherry, rosewood and sycamore, it can easily be mistaken for the tiger swallowtail--however, unlike the tiger, the two-tailed swallowtail has thinner black stripes on its wings, and has two tails on its hind wings.

3a. With printed side facing up,
3b. Fold in half horizontally along A.
3c. Unfold. Your origami should be creased as illustrated.

4. Carefully fold along creases, forming a "tent" as illustrated.

5a. Fold the right "tent" corner up along D, as illustrated.
5b. Fold the left "tent" corner up along E, as illustrated.

6. Your Origami Swallowtail Butterfly should look like this:

7. Turn butterfly origami over, printed side down.

8a. Fold up along F. Note that corners will pull in to either side.
8b. Crease corners flat, as indicated by arrows.

9. Turn your origami butterfly over.

10a. Fold butterfly in half vertically, so wings are together.
10b. Crease one wing down, diagonally, to form body.
10b. Fold down the other wing, diagonally, as shown.

11. Open wings up. Your butterfly is done!

Origami n' Stuff 4 Kids

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