Temperature Regulation and Roosting
Butterflies are cold blooded therefore they can only regulate their body temperature by behavorial tactics. The optimum body temperature
for a butterfly is between 28 - 38 degrees celsius (82-100 F) but a butterfly can fly in air temperatures between 16 - 42 degrees celsius (60 - 108 F).
At the extreme temperatures butterflies are known to display unexpected behavior.
 In order to cool themselves adult butterflies have several tactics: close their wings move them parallel to the suns rays, seek moist areas, or simply fly into shade. Two main tactics used for warming are dorsal and lateral basking. In dorsal basking the wings are spread and the upperside of the body is exposed to the sun. In lateral basking the wings are closed and the body is turned sideways to the sun. Dorsal basking is more popular amongst species than lateral.
Larvae do not vary their body temperature as much as adult butterflies do. To cool themselves larva may move to the base of the plant to avoid direct sun. To warm themselves larvae will crawl to the top of the plant lie sideways to the sun. Larvae though due prefer cooler temperatures than adult butterflies, approxiametly 20 - 29 degrees celsius (68 - 84 F).
As for resting places adult butterflies will begin to look in late afternoon for a place to spend the night. Butterflies try to choose sites which will place them out of harms way from common predators: mice and birds. This usually leads them to roost on the top of tall weeds, small trees or shrubs. Predators may not see them if they are perched on the underside of leaves or twigs or if their coloring allows them to be camouflaged against the backdrop of the plants. Both larvae and adult butterflies will also use plants to protect them during bad weather. They may use leaves or twigs as umbrellas during storms.
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Butterfly Intelligence
Their are two main ways to measure intelligence:
(1). The inherited ability of an organism to perform complex behavior in order to survive.
(2). An organisms ability to learn from experience and modify its behavior.
If we measure intelligence solely by the first method, butterflies are quite intelligent. Butterflies are capable of many complex tasks that for the most part are genetically programmed into them. These include: females using chemical sensory to determine the correct plant to lay their eggs on, finding the proper place to lay their eggs, determining whether or not eggs are already on the leaf and larva building complex silk strand nests. Unfortunately if we use the second method to determine intelligence butterflies don't do so well. Butterflies do not learn well and some species have difficulty learning at all. The smartest butterfly based upon the second criteria are the Zebra Long Wing. These are commonly found within the Haven.
Social and Antisocial Behavior
It is a common misconception that the only insects to display social behavior are bees, ants and termites. This is untrue! Eggs, larvae and some adult butterflies also display social behavior. Eggs display social behavior when they are clustered together on one leaf. In these cases the larvae will live together until they are at least half grown. These larva eat together and live on a group silk web. The the most obvious way to observe social behavior in adult butterflies is during Monarch migration. During this period Monarchs will gather by the thousands on single trees. Studies have even shown that survival rates increase as the number of Monarchs in one roost increase.
In larvae antisocial behavior is sometimes seen in the form of territoriality. Some larvae have long antlers on their head. These antlers are more effective against other larvae than other predators. While antisocial behavior is observed in larvae it is seemingly nonexistent in adult butterflies.
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