Caterpillar Stage
The caterpillar is the second stage of the Monarch’s
journey to adulthood.
The caterpillar hatches by chewing its way out of the egg.
The caterpillar has a greenish colored body. Before the
caterpillar does anything, it will eat the egg that it had just
hatched from which will give it nourishment. In this stage the
caterpillar is called an eating machine because it feeds almost
constantly and rests briefly and then feed itself somemore. The
more the caterpillar eats the skin darkens and becomes striped
with bands of black and yellow. Within only three day the
caterpillar has doubled its size. The caterpillar will keep
eating and eating until its skin is stretched so tight the it
can’t eat any more. Something very strange happens now. The
caterpillar will split its skin uncovering a brand new skin
beneath it. During the next ten to twenty days the caterpillar
will outgrow its skin five times. The warmer the weather, the
faster the caterpillar will grow.
TWO CATERPILLARS THAT HAVE GROWN TWICE THEIR
SIZE