What is symmetry and why do butterflies have it?
Mirror Wings
What is symmetry and why do butterflies have it?
Hold a butterfly up to a mirror placed right down its middle, and something magical happens — the reflection matches the real wing perfectly. The left is a copy of the right. That tidy matching trick has a name: symmetry. And butterflies are some of its biggest show-offs.
Symmetry just means "the same on both sides." Fold a heart-shaped card down the middle and the halves line up. Fold a butterfly the same way, and its wings would stack like two slices of the same sandwich. The fold line is called the axis — think of it as an invisible crease.
