Flutter & Discover Facts!
- Sulphur butterflies’ wings are the color of yellow sulphur rock, which looks exactly like a stick of bright yellow butter.
- Some people believe that long ago, these yellow “butter-colored” insects were flying around and people started calling them “butterflies!”
- When a sulphur butterfly lands on a flower to rest, it snaps its wings shut so you can only see the pale underside.
- Many sulphur butterflies in New Mexico have a pretty, thin pink border or a little pink spot on the edges of their yellow wings.
- On hot desert days, dozens of yellow sulphur butterflies will gather around damp mud to drink water and slurp up healthy minerals together.
- They like to sleep in! Unlike some butterflies that wake up at dawn, sulphurs usually wait until the morning sun completely warms up the desert before they start flying.
- Sulphur butterflies that hatch in the cool spring often have darker markings than the ones that hatch in the hot summer!
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High Desert Helpers is sponsored through the Trails+ Grant Program by the New Mexico Outdoor Recreation Division.
