There are 4 stages in the life cycle of a butterfly: egg, larva, pupa and adult.
Stage 1 (egg): a female butterfly lays eggs. The eggs are attached to a leaf with a special type of glue. Butterflies only lay their eggs on leaves which can be eaten by baby caterpillars.
Stage 2 (larva): a caterpillar grows inside the egg and eats its way out. During this stage, the caterpillar is also called 'larva'. The caterpillar spends all its time eating and becomes too big for its skin! It sheds its skin (moults) and makes new skin. Caterpillars can moult 4 or 5 times.
Stage 3 (pupa): when the caterpillar reaches its final size it stops eating. It makes a button of silk which it uses to attach itself to a leaf or twig. The caterpillar moults for the last time and becomes a chrysalis or pupa which is hard. Inside the chrysalis, the caterpillar starts to transform into a butterfly.
Stage 4 (adult): the butterfly breaks out of the chrysalis. It opens up its wrinkled wings and waits for them to dry and get filled with blood before it flies away. The adult butterfly is sometimes called 'imago', it has 4 wings. The butterfly has to practice flying until it gets the hang of it.
When the adult butterfly finds a mate, it lays eggs and the cycle starts again.
Did you know?
- Butterfly eggs are often eaten before they get the chance to hatch. Only 1 in a 100 butterfly eggs survives.
- Butterflies can see colours in the ultraviolet range that we cannot see.
- The largest butterfly is the Queen Alexandra's birdwing butterfly which can measure up to 11 inches across.
- Some butterflies live for just a week while others can live up to a year.
- Butterflies can taste with their front feet, this helps them know what leaves are good to lay their eggs on for the baby caterpillars to eat.
- Birdwing butterflies have large, angular wings and fly similar to birds.
- Every year monarch butterflies migrate from Mexico to North America. The trip is so long the butterfly cannot complete it during its lifetime. Females lay their eggs on the way and the future generations are the ones that complete the journey.
- Butterflies cannot fly if their body temperature is below 28ºC (83º Fahrenheit).
