Friday, July 11, 2008

The Very Hungry Caterpillars...



Ever since Cameron studied the butterfly life cycle in preschool, he has been fascinated with caterpillars and butterflies. Twice we have caught the ugly, woolly caterpillars that are common around our house and watched them change into ugly, fat moths, which thouroughly captivated our little entomologist. So after a string of good behavior warranting a reward of some kind, I purchased a butterfly habitat for Cam and we sent off for five painted lady caterpillars. They arrived in a small container with caterpillar food and started out as very small black creatures. Within a few days they were very plump and soon after they all formed their cocoons at the top of the jar. We anxiously waited and watched and one morning found that three of them had emerged. During the day the other two followed suit and it was incredible to see what they became. We fed them watermelon which they swarmed around and uncurled their straw-like tongues to suck up the juice. Cameron would just sit and watch them in amazement. Well now that we have had them a few days, we decided it was time to release them and thought that my moms butterfly bush would be the perfect place. Four of the five flew away instantly, but one lingered on the bush and we even got to see it stick it's tongue into the flowers. In the end, I think I was more fascinated than Cameron, but our whole family really enjoyed watching this incredible cycle take place.

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