Lanie's Place Blog: Friday July 20, 2012 Butterfly Facts

Here are some Painted Lady Butterfly Facts from Insect Lore that I am sharing with the children

Her scientific name is Vanessa cardui L
She can lay up to 500 eggs
She is the most widely distributed butterfly in the world
She may travel 1000 miles in her lifetime
She breathes through her abdomen
She tastes with her feet
She has 10,000 eyes

Also

Caterpillar poop is called "frass"
The caterpillars will crawl to the top of the jar and their body will form a "J"
The chrysalis will form around their body
A process called "metamorphosis" will occur- which makes the caterpillar change into a butterfly!
Sometimes the "chrysalides" will shake- this is a natural instinct to ward off predators
When the butterflies emerge they emit "meconium" which is a red liquid. It is not blood, it is leftover coloring and tissues from the butterfly formation
The Butterfly will spend approximately 7-10 days in the larval stage and then 7-10 days in the pupal stage. Ours arrived relatively large so may take less time to reach the pupal stage

Typically, once they emerge, we keep the butterflies indoors for several days before releasing them so the children can observe them.

This year we have 2 sets of larvae. We will create 2 habitats for them, when they are butterflies we'll feed them by putting fruit and flowers in the habitat.

We will release them outside on 2 different days so that all the children will have a chance to see them fly away. :-)

Menu
B~ scrambled eggs, cheerios, cherries and milk
L~corn on the cob, pizza, milk
S~ Dannon vanilla yogurt and fresh blueberries, filtered water

Here are today's pics-- it felt like air conditioning outside today!