Do you now that the life of a butterfly lasts only for two weeks, or in some cases, up to months?

That their wings are transparent? Or, for them to taste their food, they have to stand on it as their sensors are located on their feet? That they have six legs and feet?

Or they don't have mouths that allow them to chew or bite, instead they have a proboscis, or a long straw-like structure, which they use to drink nectar and juices and when not in use this structure remains coiled like a garden hose?

Many butterflies have intricate patterns on their wings with these designs intended for camouflage purposes so predators, like birds, can't recognize them in trees or bushes or are even scared off into thinking them as some other larger creature. There are about 28,000 known butterfly species throughout the world.

These and other information you may and your children will be more familiar with when you visit the renovated Butterfly Garden at Mambukal Resort. The garden was inaugurated late last month.

Garden visitors will get not only a treat of colorful species but also information o the life cycle on their life cycle, how they are fed and grown. Also on display are live predators of butterflies found at the resort, including the tarantula, wild geckos, scorpions, millipedes and centipedes, said Pedro Arimas, garden lessee and a butterfly expert who also breeds several species in his home in the resort area.

The garden, which charges a P20 entrance fee, has a souvenir shop which sells framed dried butterflies and t-shirts with butterfly prints.

And if there's something the visitor realizes, Arimas said, it's the fact that cultured butterflies are not afraid of human beings. They don't fly away