Red Admiral Butterfly

The Red Admiral is a butterfly that is a medium sized butterfly and is found in areas such as North Africa, Europe, Asia and the Caribbean.

What Does the Red Admiral Look Like?

The Red Admiral has a wingspan of around 2 inches long.  It is black with orange bands and white spots.  The colors of the Red Admiral are very bright and the edges of the wings have zebra looking stripes or spots towards the edges of the wings.

Where Does the Red Admiral Live?

The Red Admiral is found in areas such as North Africa, Europe, Asia, the Caribbean, and other warm or tropical locations.

The habitat of the Red Admiral is that it likes areas that are warm and is found mostly in woodlands.

Behavior of the Red Admiral

The Red Admiral is very territorial and it will protect where it lives against butterflies and other predators.

The Red Admiral will chase away any thing that tries to intrude its area and will group together and patrol the area so that it can keep predators and other butterflies away.

Most of the time, the male will only patrol the area if the weather is warmer and when it is cloudy out, the Red Admiral will not be as active.

Finding a Mate

The Red Admiral male will find a female and chase her for many hours.  The female will choose who she wants as a mate and the male does not have a chose in this.

Life Cycle

The Red Admiral is around 1 inch and is very dark in coloring when it is a caterpillar.  When it gets bigger, it will take on dark colors of orange, white and black.  The bottom side of the Red Admiral is a dark brown with red, black and white patches.

If a Red Admiral is born in the summer, it will be bigger and have a larger wingspan.

Migrating

The Red Admiral will migrate south to warmer climates when the weather starts cooling down.  Larval that are developed through the winter will not come out until spring.

What Does the Red Admiral Eat?

The Red Admiral will drink nectar from flowering plants including stinging nettle.

Vision

The Red Admiral butterfly has color vision and can see green, blue, yellow and indigo colors.  The butterfly will see wavelengths and

More Facts About the Red Admiral:

• The Red Admiral is very friendly and will sometimes land on people when they walk by.
• The Red Admiral will hibernate when the weather gets cooler.
• The first-born Red Admirals are much darker than the ones that are born later.
• Even in the wintertime, the Red Admiral will fly around when it is sunny out.
• Only the male Red Admiral is a great flyer and he is the one that will chase away intruders, not the female.
• The Red Admiral butterfly is found in many different works such as Vladimir Nobokov’s “Speak Freely.”

What Did You Learn?

What is the Red Admiral?
The Red Admiral is a butterfly that is found in warmer and tropical regions.

What is interesting about the Red Admiral’s vision?
The Red Admiral can see different colors such as blue, indigo, yellow and green.

Does the Red Admiral butterfly migrate?
Yes.  The Red Admiral butterfly will migrate south when the weather gets cooler.

Is the Red Admiral popular?
Yes.  The Red Admiral is popular in different books and movies.

Does the Red Admiral butterfly like people?
Yes.  The Red Admiral butterfly is considered a very friendly butterfly and will sometimes perch on people when they walk by.

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