Thursday, October 10, 2013

Danaus Gillipus -Queen Butterfly



The screaming began around 12:00 this afternoon in the middle of our Botany lesson. 

It had begun to eclose......

That is the fancy name for emerge. My friend "Madame Butterfly" as I so lovingly call her (being that she is the butterfly expert) educated me on this.

It was actually because of "Madame Butterfly" that this whole event even took place. You see she took pity on me when she found out that I had managed to kill 2 house plants and loose a caterpillar all in an attempt to be more like her. I wanted a real live butterfly, flying around my house too, well at least for a little bit...then I would let it go. 

So 9 days ago in the middle of the night she (being the amazing friend that she is ) left a gift on my doorstep. A real live Queen Caterpillar!
And it was potty trained........



By the next morning it was already hanging in the "J" form 



That same morning, half an hour later..............



A chrysalis!!! If you have noticed the little black thing on the bottom of the container that looks like a spider, well that's his antennae, all balled up like a old shirt dropped on the floor. If you look closely at the chrysalis you will notice gold flecks. In real life they look like real gold!!! 


So then we waited............9 whole days


This morning when we woke up and checked on him, we noticed that he had changed- a lot! Yay! Can you feel the excitement? 


The chrysalis was black and gold! ( 9 a.m.)


Then, the screaming part, 12:00 noon, during botany ....MOM!!!!!! GET THE CAMERA!!!!!!!!




You may notice that the top of his abdomen is a bit swollen, he is actually pumping the fluid from his abdomen up into his wings!! I am not sure if you can see it in any of these pictures but his proboscis was curling in and out also.









Outside with the lid off the container ( about 1/2 hour after he first emerged)




We took the clothes pin he was holding onto and clipped it to a milkweed in our front yard


Two hours later



What an amazing experience! 
     

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