Nine fluttery facts about butterflies

The meadow brown butterfly’s Latin name is Maniola or ‘little spirit from hell’. It has been represented as a demon in art.

Meadow brown - little spirit from the underworld

Peter Marren explains how the meadow brown butterfly was associated with dark places.

The Greek word psyche means both spirit and butterfly. The Greeks saw the two as intrinsically linked – the emergence of the butterfly from the cocoon was the soul ascending from the body.

Complete makeover

Life inside a chrysalis is the stuff of sci-fi as caterpillar turns into butterfly.

Sir Winston Churchill was an avid collector of butterflies as a boy and as a young man. It was a very popular hobby at the time.

Golden birdwing butterflies © The trustees of NHM, London

One explanation for the name ‘butterfly’ is that butterflies were attracted to milk and were seen as evil spirits trying to steal it.

The eyes on some butterflies’ wings are designed to distract a predator. In mythology they were seen as either the ‘evil eye’ or something that was able to see our souls.

The 'great, staring eyes' of the peacock butterfly

Peter Marren says the peacock butterfly's eyes were once thought to be watching us.

Some collectors shot large butterflies out of the sky with shotguns filled with mustard seed. The unusual ammunition was used to limit the damage caused to the specimens.

The butterfly that was shot from the sky

Dr Blanca Huertas explains why this Queen Alexandra's birdwing butterfly was shot.

In the UK, 70% of butterfly species are in decline.

Butterfly bounty

Slow motion of Britain's beautiful fluttering butterflies.

In one of the world’s greatest animal migrations, North American monarch butterflies fly 2,000 miles to hibernate.

Monarch Butterfly - Wonders of Life

The Natural History Museum butterfly department is often visited by artists including Damien Hirst and Mat Colishaw who have used butterflies in their work, and designers studying the wings to develop clothing ideas, and paint for cars. Butterfly wings have also inspired bomb detectors.