The Birds and the Bees

On Friday when everyone got home, we were all prepared to release the butterflies. Then Chad came up to me and said, "Mom, I don't think we can release them...they are mating." I knew I definitely had to check that out. Sure enough, we had two couples that had paired up. Evan took a look and asked, "Why are they attached at the butt?"

Let's just say that the evening turned out to be an educational one. At one point we even had some excitement going on when one butterfly tried to break up a couple. He fluttered, shoved and poked at the couple for several minutes before finally giving up.

We read that they usually mate from a hour or so to overnight, so we decided to wait until the next morning to release them.

One butterfly trying to break up a couple.