Butterflies possess some of the most striking colour displays found in Nature. A butterfly’s rich colour can act as camouflage, mate attraction and warning signal. But what is it that makes the vivid colours of butterfly wings appear to dance? How can they possess such intense hues? Butterflies actually get their colours from two different sources: ordinary (or pigmented) colour and structural colour. The ordinary colour comes from normal chemical pigments that absorb certain wavelengths of light and reflect others. For example, the pigment chlorophyll colours plants green. The chlorophyll soaks up the blue and red colours of the spectrum, but not the green, which you see when it bounces back to your eye. Most butterflies get their different shades of brown and yellow from melanin, the same pigment that makes you tan in summer and gives some people freckles.
From where do Butterflies Get their Striking Colours?
