Students in the Corpus Christi School system got a preview of Seymour Simon's next book, BUTTERFLIES, when he visited their schools earlier this month. Here is one of the fascinating facts Seymour shared about monarch butterflies. This photograph from the book shows how monarchs start life as a beautiful, multicolored caterpillar (which is actually the insect's larva). At least, it looks beautiful to us. To birds and other predators, the colors of this caterpillar say "Danger! Poison! Stay away!" The reason the larva is poison is that the monarch lays its eggs on the poisonous leaves of the milkweed plant. As the caterpillar eats the leaves, it is able to store the poison in its own body, therefore becoming poisonous to other creatures. Pretty good predator avoidance strategy, right? Butterflies and moths exhibit some of the most interest camouflage coloring and behaviors in nature. If you missed Seymour's recent blog posting on the Dead-Leaf butterfly, you have to check it out to see video of another unique kind of camouflage, called "mimicry."In this photo from a story in the Corpus Christi Caller-Times, Seymour holds up a copy of the book, which will be published later this summer. You will be able to read more about this in BUTTERFLIES. The book is full of beautiful photographs and fascinating information about butterflies and moths. It will be in bookstores on August 23, 2011 (available for pre-order now on both Amazon and Barnes & Noble).