A Butterfly’s main task in life is to mate.  I’m not making this up.  In some cases, they have to do it quickly, as many species live only a few days.

So they start out as “egg” turns-wormy-looking-furry thing.  Then, they hole up in a chrysalis for weeks, or sometimes months.  Dark cocoon-ish time alone.  Solitary.  And finally, they emerge as butterflies, with just a few days to mate, before its all over.

Most of ’em look pretty happy, I guess.  I mean, they flit and flutter.  That’s happy, right?  But something about the whole deal made me profoundly sad.

This is a Clouded Sulphur.  Male.  I think I saw him smoking a little cigarette before I shot this.  And, he was definitely grinning.