Butterfly Life Cycle

Have you ever seen the monarch butterfly life cycle? If you said no well you're in luck. My classes, 6, 7 and 8 are learning about the monarch butterfly life cycle. The monarch butterfly is orange, black and white. They have a special powder on their wings so it can help them fly. Did you know monarchs are starting to get extinct because people are catching them and rubbing the power off or killing them.

At the start of a monarch's life it begins as a egg which is about the size of the sesame seed. The egg is put on the bottom of a swan plant. After  a few days it starts to wriggle which means it ready to come out. It chews a little hole for it to come out and it is only 2 millimeters long really tiny.

When it is out it returns for a snack on the egg because it has lots of vitamins and minerals. It then goes away and starts to eat the leaves on the swan plant. If there are pods around the swan plant. They are the caterpillars food it is called milk weed it is really good for them. After a few weeks it loses 7 skins that means it is growing which is a good thing.

Next when it is up to full grown it then hangs of the leaf and forms a cocoon. It takes a week and a half for it to transform into a cristalis. Did you know a word for something turning into a different animal is called metamorphosis. After about 2 week it begins to hatch and come out. When it is out the wings are small so they  stretch them for about half an hour. When it is expanded it starts the life cycle over again.