squeaks and I love to look for little
critters when we're outside we
especially love looking for insects do
you have a favorite insect squeaks his
favorite insect is the butterfly and
sometimes when we're out looking for
butterflies we find another animal that
looks a lot like a butterfly but it's
not can you think of another small
insect with big wings let's think that's
right a ma moths and butterflies look a
lot alike
but there are ways to tell them apart
and if you put all the clues together
you'll be really good at telling which
is a butterfly and which is a mom so how
can you tell them apart first look at
the antenna and 10i are the two things
that stick out the top of the insects
head butterflies and moths use their
antennae to sense things in their
environment like finding other insects
or feeling around plants but they're in
ten I look different a butterfly's
antennae are long and smooth with a tiny
hook or bump at the end but a Moss
antenna I have a bunch of little
hairlike things sticking off of them
making them look kind of like feathers
okay so the antennae are the first thing
to look for what else can help us tell
these two apart
well it's helpful to think about what
time of day you're seeing them moths and
butterflies are active at different
times of the day
moths usually like to be out at night
while butterflies are awake in the day
so if you see a beautiful flying insect
landing on a flower on a sunny afternoon
it's probably a butterfly but if you see
a small insect flapping around a porch
light at night it's probably a moth and
here's another clue butterflies and
moths sometimes rest their wings in
different positions moths will often
rest with their wings spread out flat
but butterflies usually rest with their
wings held up together but it can be a
little tricky to tell them apart this
way for example butterflies sometimes
open up their wings and lay them flat to
soak up the warmth of the Sun so it
could be mistaken for a moth but it's
still a good clue to look for now so far
we've only talked about what moths and
butterflies look like as adults but you
probably know that malls and butterflies
don't always have wings they both start
out as caterpillars and you know what
cool you can tell moths and butterflies
apart by how they spend the time between
when their caterpillars and when they're
adults when a moth is changing from a
caterpillar to an adult moth it forms a
cocoon this is a special silk case that
the moth spins around itself inside the
cocoon the caterpillar will turn into an
adult flying moth and just like a moths
and tonight cocoons can look a little
fuzzy butterflies also change inside a
special case but theirs is called a
chrysalis butterfly caterpillars don't
spin their chrysalis out of silk like
moths to the chrysalis is actually a
hard layer of skin so it looks smooth
inside this chrysalis the butterfly
caterpillar will become an adult
butterfly so even though the cocoon and
the chrysalis do the same thing they're
made of different stuff and they look
different so now that were experts on
how to tell the difference between a
butterfly and a moth do you want to test
our skills let's play moth or butterfly
take a look at this picture can you tell
whether it's a butterfly or a moth let's
try to remember what makes them
different do you remember the first
thing to look for right the antennae
these are tonight look pretty smooth not
fuzzy at all and look how the insect is
holding its wings they're up not laying
flat on its back I think it's a
butterfly
do you agree we're right it's a
butterfly it called the Blue Morpho
butterfly let's try another one
wow that's pretty take a look at these
antennae they look like tiny feathers
and those wings are laying flat against
its back I'm pretty sure that this is a
moth yes it's the luna moth okay now
this one's tricky we're definitely
looking at the in-between stage of a
butterfly or a moth
it's either a cocoon or a chrysalis
I remember that cocoons are spun out of
silk by moths so they should look kind
of fuzzy and fluffy but a chrysalis is a
smooth hard outer skin this one looks
like a chrysalis to me so I think a
butterfly is inside yes it's actually
the Christmas of a monarch butterfly
next we're
I think we've gotten pretty good at
telling the difference between a
butterfly and a mom thanks to Wyatt for
writing in and asking us this question
do you have a favorite insect or other
kind of animal that you'd like to learn
more about just get help from a grown-up
and ask us in the comments below or send
us an email to kids at the scishow comm
and we'll see you next time here at the
fort