Why are the butterflies so seemingly random in their flight patterns? Not straight from A-B?
I understand the answer to be two reasons. First, the seemingly ‘random’ flight pattern serves to make butterflies more challenging to catch on the wing by avian predators (and human butterfly enthusiasts). Second, from an aerodynamics perspective, butterflies are insects that don’t possess much mass and their large wings produce lots of lift and make them susceptible to wind gusts and the like. Perhaps the term ‘random’ is misleading because if their flight path was truly random they would not be very effective at arriving at their destination! – Dr. Jeff Dawson