The story for kids
A butterfly's life! The butterfly lays an egg on a leaf. A caterpillar hatches from the egg, eats the leaf and grows. The caterpillar becomes a chrysalis, and a new butterfly flies out of the chrysalis.
Facts
- The butterfly lays an egg on a leaf.
- A caterpillar hatches from the egg, eats the leaf and grows.
- The caterpillar becomes a chrysalis, and a new butterfly flies out of the chrysalis.
Numbers
- Egg
- ~4 days
- Larva
- ~2 weeks
- A chrysalis
- ~2 weeks
- Butterfly
- 2–6 weeks
For grown-ups
Butterflies develop by complete metamorphosis: egg, larva, pupa, adult. The monarch lays its eggs only on milkweed leaves, whose sap is poisonous. The caterpillar stores that poison, so birds avoid it — its bright colours are a warning. Inside the chrysalis the caterpillar's tissues break down and are rebuilt into the body of a butterfly.