Throughout their lives, butterflies are threatened by parasitoids, predators, diseases, and environmental factors. They have evolved mechanisms
to avoid plant toxins and use them instead for their own defense. They also
protect themselves from predators by behavioral defenses which include
perching and wing positions to attract as less attention as possible. They also
use their back wings to take swift and tight turns while flying to evade
predators. Some butterflies have eyespots and tails to confuse the predator of
the structure of its body, for example, the predators confuse the head with the
tail and approach them from the wrong side. Many adult butterflies and
including larval are highly colored and sometimes these colors are bright
enough to warn away potential predators. Other colors are meant to attract the males and some are colored to look like a food plant in order to hide.

Defense Mechanisms