# Where do butteflies go at night?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-do-butteflies-go-at-night/368887>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [August 15, 2006, 11:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-do-butteflies-go-at-night/368887 "2006-08-15T23:13:36Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 4\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Jinx](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/c6cbf5/32.png) [@Jinx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jinx)\
**Post date:** [August 15, 2006, 11:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-do-butteflies-go-at-night/368887/1 "2006-08-15T23:13:36Z")

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Well? Is there some kind of huge butterfly convention, or something? Where do they go at night? - Jinx

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**Author:** ![hawksgirl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/ed655f/32.png) [@hawksgirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hawksgirl)\
**Post date:** [August 15, 2006, 11:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-do-butteflies-go-at-night/368887/2 "2006-08-15T23:15:33Z")

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I don’t know, but that sounds like a good title for a really sad song.

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**Author:** ![yabob](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yabob/32/2821_2.png) [@yabob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/yabob)\
**Post date:** [August 15, 2006, 11:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-do-butteflies-go-at-night/368887/3 "2006-08-15T23:27:53Z")

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Where do **butteflies** go at night?

… they hang out with Evel Knievel …

Actually, as I suspected:

> [@](#):
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> At night or during bad weather, butterflies will usually hang from the undersides of leaves, or crawl into crevices between rocks or other objects, and sleep.

From [Butterfly Facts - What do butterflies eat? How long do butterflies live?](http://butterflywebsite.com/faq.cfm#q15)

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**Author:** ![FormerMarineGuy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/65b543/32.png) [@FormerMarineGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FormerMarineGuy)\
**Post date:** [August 15, 2006, 11:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-do-butteflies-go-at-night/368887/4 "2006-08-15T23:28:13Z")

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Not sure of the reliability of this [site](http://www.madsci.org/posts/archives/dec96/846539049.Zo.r.html) but it seems like a pretty good answer.

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> Since there are a lot of birds and bats that would love to eat a resting butterfly, they need to pick a pretty well-hidden place. Many butterflies rest on the bark of a tree. The rough surface of the tree helps them blend in and makes them harder to spot. Another favorite place is on the underside of leaves.

And according to this [site](http://www.nides.bc.ca/Assignments/Insects/Butterflyfaq.htm#Q36) butterflies to not really sleep.

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> When butterflies cannot keep their temperatures at activity levels, when its cloudy, or at night they become quiescent. This quiescence, or resting, is not equivalent to human sleep. Butterflies always have their eyes open, since they do not have eyelids and they probably do not dream. Certainly, I don’t know of anyone who has heard of a snoring butterfly! It’s probably best just to consider that they become inactive.