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Scientists have long been puzzled as to exactly how the butterfly moves through the air as it does.
It was long believed that butterflies “ beat ” their large wings to propel themselves forward, but Swedish scientists have now determined that the movement is much more complex than previously thought.
Rather than just flapping them, they flex their colorful wings to create a “pocket” that traps more air and provides more propulsion.
This extra acceleration during takeoff can help the majestic Lepidoptera avoid predators.
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Swedish scientists analyzed a slow-motion video of a Silver Fritillary in flight and determined that the butterfly was not just flapping its wings. It forms a ‘pocket’ when they come together, helping with propulsion
Butterflies are a tasty meal for a variety of animals, including frogs, spiders, lizards, and birds.
“If you’re a butterfly that can take off faster than the rest, that gives you a clear advantage,” Per Henningsson, a biologist at Lund University, told the BBC.
“It is then a strong selective pressure, because it is a question of life and death”, he added.
In an analysis published in the journal Interface, Henningsson and fellow biologist Cristoffer Johansson showed that the “snap” of a butterfly generates an air propulsion jet.
Researchers believe the extra thrust at takeoff may help butterflies avoid predators like frogs and birds
They also found that he is making this move “in a much more advanced way than we ever imagined,” Henningsson told AFP.
As the wings flapped together, it wasn’t just two flat surfaces snapping together.
Instead, they form a form of “pocket” that traps more air.
Henningsson said it was not clear if the butterflies use the free-flight pocket technique, “but in the take-off phase they certainly do a lot.”
After viewing a slow-motion video of the Common Silver Fritillary in flight, Henningsson and Johansson fashioned two pairs of simple mechanical wings.
One set was rigid, the other flexible like real butterfly wings.
Flexible mechanical wings like a butterfly were 28% more efficient and 22% better at generating force than rigid wings
The researchers found that the flex wings were 28% more fuel efficient – a “ dramatic improvement ” – and 22% better at generating strength.
“Although conventionally considered to be aerodynamically inefficient,” butterfly wings could be perfectly suited to form the pocket shape, “Henningsson said.
Their findings could be useful in creating drones using wing propulsion, he added.
Last year, Cosmos reported that engineers at the University of South Australia unveiled a bird-sized “ ornithopter, ” a flying machine that flaps its wings to generate an upward thrust. before.
“ People working on these designs … should look at this cup-like behavior, because it [is] a lot of efficiency and effectiveness to be gained from it, ”Henningsson told the BBC.
The report could also help highlight the importance of research on these magnificent insects, whose numbers are in severe decline.
A new report from Butterflies Conservation Europe has found that the UK’s butterfly population has halved since 1976, with nearly one in ten British butterfly species gone missing due to habitat destruction.
In California, the number of western monarch butterflies has dropped precipitously to less than 2,000 butterflies of the tens of thousands recorded in recent years and the millions reported in the 1980s.
Sarina Jepsen of the Xerces Society, which conducts annual counts of California monarchs, told the AP that “their absence this year was heartbreaking.”
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