One of our sweet friends from church brings us caterpillars every year, and a good supply of milkweed. It's been such fun to see these beautiful creatures change before our very eyes -- from bright and creeping caterpillar to chrysalis to magnificent Monarchs.How strange it is to look one moment and see a caterpillar and the next the chrysalis. We can't quite figure out how long this process takes, because we only check in with our little pets periodically through the day. It definitely takes less than 12 hours though.
When the Monarch is about ready to spring forth into the glorious light, the chrysalis changes color: from a bright green to an almost black. It's an amazing thing not only to watch the new formed butterfly, but the wonder and awe of children seeing one of God's great creations in action.
We skipped ahead in Flying Creatures of the Fifth Day in order to read the scienfitic explanation of this metamorphosis. We bid the beauty goodbye, hoping she'd make it all the way to Mexico. The girls wanted to tag her, like Fred Urquhart did when he made the migration discovery in the first place. Fearing we'd hurt the poor girl, we decided to let her fly free - and tagless - instead. Goodbye, butterfly!
2 comments:
How fun! We're ordering some caterpillars and can't wait to study them.
That friend from church is certainly a good friend to have around when you homeschool :) That's great that you get catps from her every year! I've read that there have been genetic and disease problems with mail order caterpillars - it's much better to plant the host plant and just let them come. Hmmm...maybe that's a blog entry right there ;) Anyway - that's great you have such a reliable caterpillar source. I really enjoyed reading all about your experience :) Thanks!!!
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