Life Cycle~
Why don't we explore and learn about the life cycle of a monarch butterfly in detail. There are four stages that all butterflies go through during their life time. All butterflies goes through a complete metamorphosis. For a butterfly to grow into an adult, they go through four distinctive stages: egg, larva, pupa, and adult. Each stage is very different from one another. They also have different goals for each stage of development.
Stage One: Egg
Eggs
In February and March, monarch butterflies come out of hibernation mode to find a mate. After finding a mate, they both migrate to the north and east to find a place to lay her eggs. This begins stage one.
Stage one occurs after the male and female breed. This usually happens around March and April. A butterfly's life starts as a very small, round egg which the female butterfly lays her eggs on a milkweed plant. It is very important for female layers to lay their eggs on the leaves their larvae will eat because they cannot travel to a new plant. After the female monarch butterfly lays her eggs, it will take about four days for the eggs to hatch. After hatching, the baby caterpillar will start eating milkweed plants in order for it to grow.
Stage one occurs after the male and female breed. This usually happens around March and April. A butterfly's life starts as a very small, round egg which the female butterfly lays her eggs on a milkweed plant. It is very important for female layers to lay their eggs on the leaves their larvae will eat because they cannot travel to a new plant. After the female monarch butterfly lays her eggs, it will take about four days for the eggs to hatch. After hatching, the baby caterpillar will start eating milkweed plants in order for it to grow.
Stage Two: Larva
Larva/Caterpillar
After about two weeks of eating and growing, the larva will be fully grown. (Larvae are also known as caterpillars). Caterpillars do not stay in this stage for a long period of time. They spend their time mostly eating milkweed and getting ready for the next stage. Larvae eat a lot so they can grow quickly to go into the next stage. While their eating and growing, they quickly start expanding. Their skin or exoskeleton does not stretch or grow. Their skin will shed or molt (shedding outgrown skin) several times while the larva grows. After the caterpillar is done growing, it will start finding a place to attach itself so that it can start the process of metamorphosis.
Stage Three: Pupa
Pupa/Chrysalis
The pupa stage is one of the neatest stages of a butterfly's life! The larva attaches itself to a stem or a leaf by using silk. Big changes are going to happen to the monarch butterfly during the pupa stage. After the larva has attached itself to a stem or a leaf, the pupa stage begins. During the pupa stage, it doesn't seem like anything is happening on the outside, but in the inside, huge changes are being made to turn the once egg into a beautiful butterfly. The tissues, limbs, and organs will be changed by the time the pupa hatches. This phase takes approximately ten days. After this stage, the butterfly will soon hatch out of its pupa. The pupa shell will get thinner as it grows into a butterfly.
Stage Four: Adult
Adult Monarch Butterfly
Finally, when the caterpillar is ready to hatch from its pupa, the adult butterfly will emerge. The monarch butterfly's wings will still be soft and wet from being in the pupa. After the butterfly has rested, it will start pumping blood into the wings so it can get them working and flapping. After four or five hours, the butterfly is ready to fly and search for a mate so it can reproduce. The butterfly will feed on flowers instead of milkweed plants. The butterfly will live between two to six weeks. When the fourth and final stage is done, the butterfly life cycle will start over again. In May and June, the second generation starts. The first generation butterflies will lay their eggs and die off.