Stripey 2 is staying in our guest room. His little belly is full of parsley, and now he's just about ready to enter the pupa stage. Inside his chrysalis he will make his marvelous transformation into a butterfly.
Our friends have raised lots of caterpillars this spring and summer (monarchs and now these swallowtails), providing them with safe shelter from birds and other predators who only see caterpillars as breakfast and not as butterflies-in-waiting. There's more information about the black swallowtail butterflies here.
Stripey 2 is named after the first caterpillar we adopted, Stripey, who got sick before he could grow big enough to form his chrysalis.
We miss you, Stripey, and we'll take good care of your big brother (or sister? we won't know until we see the wings!) in honor of you!
Once upon a time a tiny striped caterpillar burst from the egg which had been home for so long. "Hello world," he said. "It sure is bright out here in the sun."
"I'm hungry," he thought and straightway began to eat the leaf he was born on. And he ate another leaf...and another...and another. And got bigger...and bigger...and bigger...
Until one day he stopped eating and thought, "There must be more to life than just eating and getting bigger."
from Hope for the Flowers, by Trina Paulus
1 comment:
How exciting- I have "Hope for the Deatons" that Stripey 2 will follow his/her destiny and grow into a healthy butterfly. I assume Chloe and Zack do not have access to the marvelous transformation area...
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