Download Hi friends! Bugsy here, and I wanted to talk to you about a little ... and more Lecture notes Plant Taxonomy and Evolution in PDF only on Docsity! Hi friends! Bugsy here, and I wanted to talk to you about a little process called Metamorphosis. Now, that’s a big science word, so let’s sound it out – Metamorphosis is the change that happens, usually in an insect or even an amphibian, when they move from their immature stage to their adult stage. For animals like us, it’s part of growing up! And it doesn’t happen overnight, there’s a different stages where we undergo different changes. I’ll walk you through what mine was like – check out this baby picture of me! I’m a Monarch, so before my metamorphosis that means I was a yellow, black and white caterpillar. Before I could move to the next stage of my life cycle, I had to grow big and strong! Lucky for me, my egg hatched in Riverside Park where there is TONS of native milkweed. That’s exactly what Monarch caterpillars love to eat. After I ate all the milkweed I could find, I started to move to the next stage – which was my chrysalis. A lot of people think this is the same as a cocoon, but when you’re talking about butterflies you should use the word chrysalis. (Our friends of the night, moths, use cocoons.) First, I hung upside down in a “J-shape” so I could form my chrysalis. I had to stay nice and still during this time, so if you ever see a caterpillar in a J-shape, I would give them some space! This took about 2 weeks. During this time, I worked really hard to change my body into its adult stage. Once I was ready, I slowly emerged from my chrysalis… My wings were a little damp and scrunched up from being inside my chrysalis, so I found a sunny spot to hang and dry them out. Once I felt ready, I took my first flight! It was SO. MUCH. FUN. I soared through the air and found a beautiful prairie. I love prairies, because they have so many yummy wildflowers! As an official grown-up Monarch Butterfly, I now drink nectar, and that’s found in flowers. But I’ll save that story for my next lesson, on pollination.
