Butterflies and caterpillars       







What do you know?:  



Butterfly Life Cycle

These are the four stages in the life cycle of a Butterfly but they only look like butterflies in the final stage.

1. Egg stage: an adult butterfly lays an egg about the size of the head of a pin. Some place the eggs in protected locations—on the undersides of leaves, for example—where wasps and other predators are less likely to find them. A week or two after the egg is laid, you can see a tiny but fully formed caterpillar moving inside.
Finally, the larva emerges into the world. 		2. Caterpillar (larvae) stage: the egg hatches into a caterpillar or larva. After hatching from the egg, the young caterpillar spends most of its time eating leaves and gaining weight. Caterpillars consume huge quantities of leaves. But the caterpillar's "skin" is like a shell - it does not grow. As the caterpillar body grows bigger and bigger, it outgrows its skin and needs to shed it. The caterpillar wiggles out of its old skin too tight for it now. 3. Chrysalis (pupa) stage: after the fifth and final skin shed, the caterpillar forms the chrysalis or pupa then, and neither feeds nor moves. Through an amazing metamorphosis,the caterpillar transforms into a beautiful green chrysalis. Inside the skin of the pupa, the most dramatic part of the metamorphosis takes place as the larva transforms into a butterfly. When the butterfly is fully formed, the pupal case splits and the butterfly emerges. 4. Adult Butterfly Stage: the butterfly's wings are initially soft and shriveled, but they expand and harden within a few hours. The butterfly then takes flight to pursue its main adult activities, mating and reproduction. It has no time to waste—adults of most species live for only a few weeks.




How do they protect themselves? :


Caterpillars hide and have camouflage, or they collect poisons from the plants they eat and hold them in their bodies. If they are attacked they thrash around and try to bite their attacker, or play dead and drop to the ground.

Adult butterflies rely on camouflage and flight to avoid predators, and some (monarchs especially) are poisonous to predators.
Bright colors and distinctive wing patterns can, however, be advantageous. The caterpillars of many species feed on toxic plants, and throughout their lives, their tissues are poisonous to predators.
The adult butterflies make no attempt to hide themselves; instead, their bright, warning coloration is like a neon sign. A bird that eats one of these toxic butterflies remembers the experience—and avoids repeating it.


Common predators:

insect-eating birds, especially perching birds
mice (eat pupae)
skunks (eat pupae)
toads
frogs
spiders,
wasps
ants





Songs and Rhymes:


Butterfly Cycle
©Suzy Gazlay 2003. Used by permission.
Thank you Suzy for this wonderful song that the children love so much!

(to the tune of "Row, Row, Row Your Boat")

Hatch, hatch little egg,
I'm so very small.
Teeny tiny caterpillar,
You can't see me at all.

Crawl, caterpillar, crawl,
Munching on a leaf.
Crawling, munching, crawling, munching,
Eat and eat and eat.

Form, form chrysalis,
I'm a different shape;
Hanging by a silken thread
Until I can escape.

Rest, rest, chrysalis
While I change inside;
Now at last my time has come
To be a butterfly.

Stretch, stretch, pretty wings,
It's a special day;
Soon they will be strong enough
For me to fly away.

Fly, fly, butterfly,
Fly from flower to tree;
Find a place to lay my eggs
So they can grow like me.


Only My Opinion

Is a caterpillar ticklish?
Well, it's my belief
That he giggles
As he wiggles
Across a hairy leaf!


The Fuzzy Caterpillar
(to the tune of "The Eensy Weensy Spider")

The fuzzy caterpillar
Curled upon a leaf,
Spun her little chrysalis
And then fell asleep.
While she was sleeping,
She dreamed that she could fly,
And later when she woke up
She was a butterfly!


Caterpillar, Caterpillar
(to the tune of "Motor Boat, Motor Boat")

Caterpillar, caterpillar, long and slow.
Caterpillar, caterpillar eat and grow.
Caterpillar, caterpillar close your eyes.
Caterpillar, caterpillar change your size.
Caterpillar, caterpillar where'd you go?