How a Butterfly is Born?

Explanation Text

We all know how beautiful butterflies are. Do you know that butterflies are not hatched with those beautiful and colourful wings? To have those gorgeous pair of wings, they have to go through a long transformation. This process is called metamorphosis. Butterfly life cycle or metamorphosis takes 4 stages. They are eggs, caterpillar, pupa, and butterfly.

Stage 1: the eggs

It all starts when a female butterfly lays her eggs, usually on leaves or stems of plants. Inside these tiny eggs, caterpillars grow. The eggs shape and texture can vary depending on the butterfly species. They can be round, oval, or cylinder. Their texture can be smooth, bumpy, or wrinkled.  The time to hatch also varies. Some species will hatch within a few weeks. Others will only hatch when the weather is warm enough.

Butterflies eggs on a leave

Stage 2: caterpillar

Once ready, the caterpillar leaves its egg home and enters the big outside world! And these little critters have one serious appetite. They actually eat their way out of the egg and immediately start chomping on the leaves of the host plant. During this stage, they shed their skin four or five times. As the caterpillar grows, its skin becomes too tight and splits open, revealing a new, larger skin underneath. A fully grown caterpillar can be over 100 times larger than when it emerged from its egg.

A caterpillar

Stage 3: the pupa

Once fully grown, the caterpillar forms into a “pupa” also known as chrysalis. Chrysalis is a kind of vessel in which the caterpillar changes into a butterfly. They usually do this on twigs or safe, hidden areas around the host plant. The pupa stage may last a few weeks to several months depending on the species. The pupa has a hard case around it. This case protects the pupa from predators and extreme weather conditions. The tissue, limbs and organs of the caterpillar transform inside the pupa. Then, a marvelous winged butterfly emerges!

A pupa or chrysalis

Stage 4: the butterfly

Once the butterfly is ready to emerge, the case around the pupa splits open. At first, the wings are wet, soft and wrinkled against its body. The butterfly waits for its wings to dry, and pumps a liquid called hemolymph into them so that they become big and strong. Once ready for flight, this brilliant bug then takes to the air in search for flowers to feed on. The cycle complete, and it is ready to start all over again!

A butterfly emerging from its cocoon

Butterflies need to go through a long process to become what they are. It takes days even weeks for them to be wonderful winged insects.

Source: www.natgeokids.com