Butterfly senses
Adult butterflies use their senses of sight, touch, hearing, smell, and taste to survive in the world, find food and mates, lay eggs in an appropriate place, migrate, and avoid hungry predators.
Sight
Butterflies have large, compound (multifaceted) eyes, which allow them to see in all directions without turning their heads. Like most insects, butterflies are very nearsighted, so they are more attracted to a large stand of flowers rather than individual plants. Butterflies do not "see" colors such as red, green, and yellow, but sense polarized light, which indicates the direction the sun is shining, as well as ultraviolet light, which is present on many flowers and guides butterflies to nectar sources.
Smell
Butterflies have a very well-developed sense of smell, but it's not in their nose (since they don't have one). Sense receptors located in their antennae, feet, and many other parts of the body help butterflies find food (usually flower nectar), and mates (the female smells the male's pheromones).
Taste
Butterfly's feet have sense organs that can taste the sugar in nectar, letting the butterfly know if something is good to eat or not. Some females also taste host plants in order to find appropriate places to lay their eggs. Adult butterflies and moths feed using a proboscis, a long, coiled tube. Butterflies force blood into the tube to straighten it out, allowing them to feed. Butterflies get all their food from this tube.
Hearing
Butterflies don't have ears. Instead they "hear" sounds through their wings by sensing changes in sound vibrations.
Butterflies may possess senses we don't even know about yet because their anatomy is very different than ours, and therefore difficult to understand when perceived through our own human senses.
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