I used to think that caterpillars just curled up and went to sleep, and the cocoon shell formed naturally. While the truth is a bit disturbing, it's also pretty interesting.
Apparently, the innards completely liquify when undergoing metamorphosis. The caterpillar is in a way digesting itself and making use of the resulting soup. However -- and here's the interesting thing: the butterfly can remember behaviour that the caterpillar had learned!
Yep it covers the area where it’ll hang with sticky silk and puts a thick ball of silk right at the spot where it’ll hang, then this black “cremaster” with tiny velcro hooks latches into the silk. There’s some good photos here: journeynorth.org/tm/monarch/ChrysalisFormationLPB.html
I just had my monarch butterfly emerge from it's chrysalis today! Yay, one more butterfly for the world. 😃 The odds of the eggs hatching and becoming a new butterfly is dismal even with human assistance.
I saw a caterpillar about a week ago on the edge of my window. I thought about taking him down on the ground again, but decided to leave him. I open up my window the next day to find a chrysalis!! Its been there for a week and Im eager to see if I can catch it coming out
This is so beautifully amazing. I have two caterpillars in a container who we found had eaten all the leaves from the one and only small milkweed in the yard (note: if they are a few days from chrysalis and milkweed is gone they will eat sliced raw pumpkin). One is just now attaching to the roof of the container to chrysalis. This has me excited to make an effort to have lots more milkweed growing in the yard.
It is really good to know the cats will eat something else if the milkweed supply is gone, thanks for sharing that. Milkweed spreads through seed and underground runners so one could imagine it will multiply for you.
I left a comment on this video 3 years ago. I have raised these little guys my whole life, and just now saw one of my little friends make his cocoon very recently. I actually got 2 late bloomers a few days ago, and one of them is making his as we speak. I’m going to try to catch it on video, and show my family and friends the fascinating process these dudes go trough!
I raised them when I was in kindergarten. I saw one on the roof of the terrarium and when I turned around for a few seconds, I heard my teacher give a shriek. I quickly turned around and saw a newly for chrysalis where the caterpillar once was.
I always thought they spun a cocoon around them from silk! That's super cool but creepy! It's like in a science fiction movie where an alien is hatching! That's weird that it looks like a chrysalis is inside the bug thing or whatever.
Why does no one show clear to the end of the formation of the top part of the chrysalis? I've watched dozens of these videos and they all skip the last part.
Out of 30 monarch eggs to caterpillars but lost all but 10 made it to chrysalis even with our abundance of milkweed. Of the 20 other caterpillars that didn’t make it, 2 died trying to form chrysalises. The other 18 got sick and died either on the plant or crawled away to spin silk and died trying during their final instar. We isolated 10 chrysalises on our screened in porch. Of those 8 eclosed successfully (3 fell off upon emergence but each of those times, I was there to lend a finger for it to grasp to right itself and then assist it to a place to hang straight). The other 5 had no issues. One chrysalis turned black and dried up and died. Our 10th chrysalis turned clear like the others and started to eclose but died before (s)he could get his head all the way out. We cried with each loss of caterpillar or chrysalis. But mostly felt good about providing them with milkweed the increased chance to succeed. In the wild, as little as 3% (maybe less?)of monarch eggs laid make it to a monarch butterfly. Even with the assistance from humans, maybe 30% make it? Please Plant more milkweed and help our ecosystem. Monarchs are iconic pollinators and beautiful creatures.
It shouldn’t be that difficult for them to survive if you’re raising them indoors. If you’re keeping the cage clean, taking caution, and protecting them from outside predators, you should have a pretty hight success rate. In the wild they have a difficult time surviving due to climate change, pesticides, lack of food and habitat, and predators such as tachnid flies who lay their eggs inside caterpillars.
I wonder if caterpillars are able to consciously delay the onset of this process if it's in an unsuitable or unsafe situation, or does it just happen automatically like puberty in humans.
I found this video after being surprised at the level of activity in my newly forming chrystalite. Yesterday it just hung in a J shape and twtched a little bit. Now its encased and twiching like it's possessed. Fascinating!
My bright orange Butterfly Weed shrub has been covered with Monarch caterpillars in all stages and there is a perfectly formed chrysalis on the purple Butterfly Bush next to it. I have been 'tracking' one of the full sized caterpillars, hoping to witness this amazing transformation, not knowing how it occurs. So glad to see this video because the chances of me seeing this little guy at just the right moment are pretty slim.
I wish you had shown the entire bit at the end where it assumes its final shape. I have three chrysalis in my enclosure and a 4th caterpillar is attaching to the roof right now, but I will miss this metamorphosis again. But thanks . Fascinating.
The whole 'assuming the final shape part' isn't that exciting, especially when seen in real time. It goes some a somewhat oblong green thing to a somewhat squatter green thing over the course of 20 minutes or so. I get why someone might want to see it if they haven't seen it before. But, it pales in comparison to the pupation's 'main event'.
Since other people have asked the same thing, we've uploaded the complete, unedited footage. You can find it here: ua-cam.com/video/T2ePJIgiQc0/v-deo.html.
When your sister has suddenly taken up Lepidoptery, you find this informative and reassuring. Rather than having to listen to, "Why won't they pupate?"
@@JeffersonLab i was more talking about as the outer layer sheds off, it doesn't appear like they have any eyes or legs at all the moment the skins off
What I can’t find answer to is why at first you can see beginnings of wings, head, legs and antenna and then in the end it’s all smooth. And if it liquids itself, why is all that there at first! So after it sheds the caterpillar skin, does it secrete a clear substance that eventually hardens and smooths out? Because what first is under there is not what you see in the finished product. Watched I close myself 4 times now. At the very beginning you can see exactly what it looks like before it emerges as butterfly but in bright green.
Great job on this video and the video where the butterfly emerges! Do you ever plan on creating videos for other types of caterpillars doing this same thing?
Not at this time. I have enough experience with Monarchs to know, more or less, when to film. I don't have this kind of knowledge with other types. Not that I won't in the future! But, for now, I don't have the experience to make filming other types time effective.
Hi, I have a caterpillar that just formed a pupa but the caterpillar skin didn’t come off. Is it normal for the skin to take a while to come off? If not, could this cause a problem? Thank you.
I find it hard to believe this is in real time speed, it looks a tad sped up based on the frantic movement of the antennae. I read this process takes about a day. Please clarify in minutes/hours, I cant seem to find the amount of time anywhere online.
+MODGNAR No. Other than the dissolve cut near the end, what you see is in real time. The 'frantic movement of the antennae' was due to the wind. They remain in the 'J' state for about a day. Maybe that's what you're thinking about. However, once the 'final shedding' starts, it takes exactly as long as we've shown here.
@@MODGNAR I had two caterpillars turn into pupa today. They were hanging in their "j" formation and when I looked again after I had eaten my lunch they were transformed. It could not have taken more than 30 minutes and now I can see it probably took a lot less time than that.
I find this FASCINATING! I Have Milkweed and Catepillars to the right of Breezway , 3 baby cardinals in nest on the left. Don' t want last remaining monarch C. 2 B dinner 4 Madam Cardinal so im making a plan. Any ideas?
Oh my gosh, I thought the caterpillar built the chyrsalis, not that it BECAME the chrysalis. However, you skip over one portion that I really wish I could see, right at 3:47. I have a caterpillar in my home and it went from caterpillar to chrysalis if 4 hours. I missed the entire thing! But I really want to see how it goes from still looking sort of like a caterpillar to looking like a chrysalis. Why did you skip that part??? This was fascinating, though!! Thx.
It's skipped because there isn't much to see. It's just an oblong green thing becoming a somewhat less oblong thing over the course of 20 minutes or so. It's real tedious to watch in real time.
But, we still have the footage. I can probably get it put together and uploaded tomorrow. Keep in mind that it'll still be dealing with the limitations of video recording with a DSLR, so it'll be limited to 29:59 of continuous footage. I'll post the link to it here when it's uploaded.
How long does this process take, from caterpillar to chrysalis? My sister has taken very good care of a monarch cat but it has been a J for about 6 hours now. He is getting fatter at the top but that is all, and all the posts I see make it seem like this is a minutes-long process, not hours. Help?!
The 'J' stage can last for as long as a day. Typically, if I have one that goes into the 'J' shape in the late afternoon, it'll pupate the next morning. The actual pupation process takes as long as it does in the video - it's being shown in real time. You'll know that the start of pupation is close when the larva's antenna 'deflate.'
Jefferson Lab Thank you so much! I went downstairs when my fiance left for work to check, and the antennae had in fact gotten floppy and the caterpillar was kind of rippling from head to tail. I thought I had time to go to the bathroom but by the time I got my sister awake and downstairs it had already pupated! Now we know for the younger one which will pupate in about a week. Thanks again!
Hi! I’m raising my first monarch caterpillar and I have a question. It has been more than two weeks since it hatched, but it’s still not forming into a chrysalis. I put a stick in the jar but it’s not climbing onto it. What shall I do now? Thank you!
Just give it time. As long as there is food for it to eat, it'll take care of itself. There is a period between the "I'm done eating" phase and the "I'm forming a chrysalis" phase where it doesn't seem to do much of anything. That period lasts for about a day.
@@JeffersonLab Thank you for your reply! I stopped worrying about it and left it alone for a while. Today when I checked, it's doing the J hang after almost 19 days of leaf-eating. :D
@@JeffersonLab It's okay! I mean, if it died, that's a bummer, but it happens. To be clear, I didn't keep him or anything. I found him in my garden, and I just checked on him every day or two to make sure he was doing well. Once they start hanging like that, how long would you say it takes before they noticeably change?
If it's still in a 'J' shape, then it's probably okay. Or, it isn't obviously not okay. If it's 'relaxed' out of the 'J' shape, then that's not good. In my experience, they usually stay in the 'J' stage for about a day.
This video didn't help answer my question, which was why is it coming out of the back of the head?? Where does it come from and how does it get all over him????
What last part? The emergence? It takes about a week for the metamorphosis to run its course. We weren't going to shoot for a week waiting for it to finish. So, you cut the video and give the emergence its own: ua-cam.com/video/mjADshD3msk/v-deo.html
@@JeffersonLab I mean, how long does the change from caterpillar to pupa take? They hang in a J for a while, but is it a process from caterpillar to green in 5 minutes or 5 hours? I'm trying to get a video and want to make sure I have enough battery/memory. Thanks!
This video is shot in real time. So, the change takes as long as it is shown here (other than the transition at the end, which represents something like a 20 minute jump).
No. The things on its head and hindquarters are called tentacles. The ones on the head are used as sense organs (the caterpillar can't see well) and the back ones might be used to confuse predators (makes it more difficult to tell which end is the front and which end is the back).
@@JeffersonLab was expecting to see the formation going on in the chrysalis rather than skipping right over to the end when the wings are formed and the butterfly emerges
Whoops. Thought you were referring to the caterpillar in the video. What you're describing is probably a swallowtail butterfly caterpillar. They eat carrot tops and other plants in the fennel family, like parsley. Their chrysalises sort of 'lean back' like a linesman climbing a pole with a belt. If it forms late in the season, they will remain as a chrysalis over the winter and the butterfly will emerge in the spring. Otherwise, they emerge from the chrysalis in about 7 to 10 days. See if this matches what you have: butterfly-lady.com/do-you-have-parsley-worms/
I used to think that caterpillars just curled up and went to sleep, and the cocoon shell formed naturally. While the truth is a bit disturbing, it's also pretty interesting.
Not a cocoon 🤷♀️
They actually form this shell underneath their skin in that week before their transformation, and they shed their skin when it's time.
cocoons is not the name if it cocoons are different
Cocoons are spun silk.
Only some MOTHS build up coccons
Apparently, the innards completely liquify when undergoing metamorphosis. The caterpillar is in a way digesting itself and making use of the resulting soup. However -- and here's the interesting thing: the butterfly can remember behaviour that the caterpillar had learned!
where do all of its organs go? or do they just reshape themselves from the soup?
Well why wouldn't it? its still the same being..
Wow! How do they know that? What can a caterpillar learn? I thought all they do is eat, poop and shed their skin.
I’m watching mine turn right now. It’s been in the J shape all day. I hope I get to see this change.
@@jeannie1renee2 How do you know how to digest food? Or how to see? Or how to make your heart beat?
That point of attachment is pretty strong with all the movements
Yep it covers the area where it’ll hang with sticky silk and puts a thick ball of silk right at the spot where it’ll hang, then this black “cremaster” with tiny velcro hooks latches into the silk. There’s some good photos here:
journeynorth.org/tm/monarch/ChrysalisFormationLPB.html
@@anti0918 thanks for the link, it’s a very interesting read :)
Those hooks look... kinda sus
It looks absolutely painful. Sometimes I'm glad that I'm a human being.
Ask your Mom about that. She might tell you about something else that was quite painful. :)
Hmm. What about women doing the same thing when they have babies. The human life isn’t so pleasant as well.
@@gitvin BIRTH
Nope I think being a human is emotionally just as painful 😅
Congratulations! Your Caterpie evolved to Metapod!
+ Shuyin8859 oh lol
shuyin8859 this is just my dad's account but I named my caterpillar Caterpie
Lol
*butterfly* and *catipiler*
+shuyin8859 no pokemons
intriguing but highly disturbing
Something about that was deeply unsettling.
***** I guess having your skin peel off would be a bit unsettling.
***** I'm sure butterflies feel the same way about the various stages of human reproduction. ;)
Maybe they were just monarch butterflies on your stomach... XD
@@syntaxusdogmata3333no
I just saw this happen right before my eyes last night!!!!! So amazing.....really truly. Almost cried!!
I just had my monarch butterfly emerge from it's chrysalis today! Yay, one more butterfly for the world. 😃 The odds of the eggs hatching and becoming a new butterfly is dismal even with human assistance.
Then please check out my channel I released 2 common Mormons that I had since it was a caterpillar
Same!
"Will it be a girl or a boy?"
I think it's gonna be a butterfly.
Stucky Butterflies has genders too.
***** Same thing
+Dark “Darcosuchus” Sev. No it's not.
+Dark “Darcosuchus” Sev. No they are not
Hylian Montage I know.
I saw a caterpillar about a week ago on the edge of my window. I thought about taking him down on the ground again, but decided to leave him. I open up my window the next day to find a chrysalis!! Its been there for a week and Im eager to see if I can catch it coming out
So... Did you? ☺
Yeah did u?
Yeah! What happened?
My dad brought in two of these guys only 3 days ago, we bring them fresh milkweed everyday home, and one of them just started this process! so cool.
3:20 I didn’t know that caterpillars heads fall off or whatever it is
This is so beautifully amazing. I have two caterpillars in a container who we found had eaten all the leaves from the one and only small milkweed in the yard (note: if they are a few days from chrysalis and milkweed is gone they will eat sliced raw pumpkin).
One is just now attaching to the roof of the container to chrysalis. This has me excited to make an effort to have lots more milkweed growing in the yard.
It is really good to know the cats will eat something else if the milkweed supply is gone, thanks for sharing that. Milkweed spreads through seed and underground runners so one could imagine it will multiply for you.
The caterpillars are strong enough to digest pumpkins?
I'm in the same situation.. when they are in the last stage they can eat (clean and organic) pumpkin, butternut squash, zucchini, and cucumber
They will only eat milkweed.
Yeah I have a cocoon and I was super shocked cause I saw the cocoon move when I picked it up
I left a comment on this video 3 years ago. I have raised these little guys my whole life, and just now saw one of my little friends make his cocoon very recently. I actually got 2 late bloomers a few days ago, and one of them is making his as we speak. I’m going to try to catch it on video, and show my family and friends the fascinating process these dudes go trough!
3:21 im sorry did the head just fly off
I never cared or wondered how they did this, until now. Pretty cool. Thanks for the video
Not how I expected it to form. I always thought they covered themselves. Fascinating
Amazing footage!I did get a flashback to the 80s of what it was like to pull on pantyhose
I raised them when I was in kindergarten. I saw one on the roof of the terrarium and when I turned around for a few seconds, I heard my teacher give a shriek. I quickly turned around and saw a newly for chrysalis where the caterpillar once was.
I always thought they spun a cocoon around them from silk! That's super cool but creepy! It's like in a science fiction movie where an alien is hatching! That's weird that it looks like a chrysalis is inside the bug thing or whatever.
Moths spin cocoons. Butterflies form chrysalises.
Why does no one show clear to the end of the formation of the top part of the chrysalis? I've watched dozens of these videos and they all skip the last part.
Do you mean for it to get to its final shape? Because it takes about an hour and it would be pretty boring to watch in real time.
They jusy “squeeze” their “green” body to become a chrystalis.
Amazing that the antenna never seem to die until the very end.
They were just blowing in the wind
They were either blowing in the wind or moving with the skin folding
Out of 30 monarch eggs to caterpillars but lost all but 10 made it to chrysalis even with our abundance of milkweed. Of the 20 other caterpillars that didn’t make it, 2 died trying to form chrysalises. The other 18 got sick and died either on the plant or crawled away to spin silk and died trying during their final instar.
We isolated 10 chrysalises on our screened in porch. Of those 8 eclosed successfully (3 fell off upon emergence but each of those times, I was there to lend a finger for it to grasp to right itself and then assist it to a place to hang straight). The other 5 had no issues.
One chrysalis turned black and dried up and died. Our 10th chrysalis turned clear like the others and started to eclose but died before (s)he could get his head all the way out. We cried with each loss of caterpillar or chrysalis.
But mostly felt good about providing them with milkweed the increased chance to succeed.
In the wild, as little as 3% (maybe less?)of monarch eggs laid make it to a monarch butterfly.
Even with the assistance from humans, maybe 30% make it?
Please Plant more milkweed and help our ecosystem. Monarchs are iconic pollinators and beautiful creatures.
Why is it so difficult for them to survive?
It shouldn’t be that difficult for them to survive if you’re raising them indoors. If you’re keeping the cage clean, taking caution, and protecting them from outside predators, you should have a pretty hight success rate. In the wild they have a difficult time surviving due to climate change, pesticides, lack of food and habitat, and predators such as tachnid flies who lay their eggs inside caterpillars.
3:20 The old skin is now facing front
This was looks like when a Caterpie evolves into a Metapod
I wonder if caterpillars are able to consciously delay the onset of this process if it's in an unsuitable or unsafe situation, or does it just happen automatically like puberty in humans.
I think when they get to a right size they will , or just die
My first caterpillar from the bunch I'm rearing just transformed into a chrysalis today! I'm such a proud mom! 😁
👍
I found this video after being surprised at the level of activity in my newly forming chrystalite. Yesterday it just hung in a J shape and twtched a little bit. Now its encased and twiching like it's possessed. Fascinating!
Yep. Once it decides it's time, it doesn't fool around.
My bright orange Butterfly Weed shrub has been covered with Monarch caterpillars in all stages and there is a perfectly formed chrysalis on the purple Butterfly Bush next to it. I have been 'tracking' one of the full sized caterpillars, hoping to witness this amazing transformation, not knowing how it occurs. So glad to see this video because the chances of me seeing this little guy at just the right moment are pretty slim.
Is he shedding?
The most perfect video for a jump scare
I has one milkweed plant, and 5 of these guys ate all the leaves and died because of lack of food :(
Why didn’t you get more milkweed...?
It's kinda scary knowing that right now it's liquifying itself.
I wish you had shown the entire bit at the end where it assumes its final shape. I have three chrysalis in my enclosure and a 4th caterpillar is attaching to the roof right now, but I will miss this metamorphosis again. But thanks . Fascinating.
The whole 'assuming the final shape part' isn't that exciting, especially when seen in real time. It goes some a somewhat oblong green thing to a somewhat squatter green thing over the course of 20 minutes or so. I get why someone might want to see it if they haven't seen it before. But, it pales in comparison to the pupation's 'main event'.
Since other people have asked the same thing, we've uploaded the complete, unedited footage. You can find it here: ua-cam.com/video/T2ePJIgiQc0/v-deo.html.
I've missed it twice. But hope to see the next😫
When your sister has suddenly taken up Lepidoptery, you find this informative and reassuring. Rather than having to listen to, "Why won't they pupate?"
I fell unconscious watching this catiplier skin rip off
what happened to their legs and eyes?
My understanding is that their body essentially dissolves and is then reconstituted in its new form.
@@JeffersonLab i was more talking about as the outer layer sheds off, it doesn't appear like they have any eyes or legs at all the moment the skins off
Never in a million years would I have guessed this is how it turned into a chrysalis
What I can’t find answer to is why at first you can see beginnings of wings, head, legs and antenna and then in the end it’s all smooth. And if it liquids itself, why is all that there at first! So after it sheds the caterpillar skin, does it secrete a clear substance that eventually hardens and smooths out? Because what first is under there is not what you see in the finished product. Watched I close myself 4 times now. At the very beginning you can see exactly what it looks like before it emerges as butterfly but in bright green.
I never get to watch the actual change. The last one I checked and an hour later he had turned into a chrysalis.
Metapod in real life woulve been a better title fr
I thought they built around their caterpillar form. Not drop their skin off like dirty clothes after a long day at work 😂
How long is this process???
Other than the crossfade towards the end, events are shown in real time. Please see the link in the description for an uncut version.
@@JeffersonLab Thanks!
I missed it again 😂 I turn my back for a few minutes! 🐛🦋
Great job on this video and the video where the butterfly emerges!
Do you ever plan on creating videos for other types of caterpillars doing this same thing?
Not at this time. I have enough experience with Monarchs to know, more or less, when to film. I don't have this kind of knowledge with other types. Not that I won't in the future! But, for now, I don't have the experience to make filming other types time effective.
amazing video and amazing audio thanks!
I always envisioned caterpillars' metamorphosis to be a bit more elegant and less...uh, unsettling.
why is it unsettling?? because it sheds all of its skin??
just curious, not trying to invalidate your feelings or something.
We cant get a sped up version of what happens between 3:48 and 3:50?
A sped up version isn't that interesting. It just contracts a bit, ending up with what's shown at the end.
I have one too but it not yet turning to a butterfly. How many day do it turning to a butterfly?
About 10 days.
Thanks for the video!Hey,I like that!Cold cuts! No Bologna,just science!LOL!
Hi, I have a caterpillar that just formed a pupa but the caterpillar skin didn’t come off. Is it normal for the skin to take a while to come off? If not, could this cause a problem?
Thank you.
Real life footage of Caterpie evolving into Metapod then Butterfree
What? Caterpie is Evolving!
Very confused at what I’m witnessing.
I had no idea this is actually how the chrysalis is formed. I'm so surprised!
so cool! Thanks for posting!
So....... I just watched a Caterpillar undressing without its permission....
I’ve watched it twice and still don’t understand what I’m seeing. Did the chrysalis come from under its skin? It just appears out of no where
Yes, it's under the skin.
About how long does his process take?
The video runs in real time. The jump cut near the end skips ~5 minutes.
I find it hard to believe this is in real time speed, it looks a tad sped up based on the frantic movement of the antennae. I read this process takes about a day. Please clarify in minutes/hours, I cant seem to find the amount of time anywhere online.
+MODGNAR No. Other than the dissolve cut near the end, what you see is in real time. The 'frantic movement of the antennae' was due to the wind. They remain in the 'J' state for about a day. Maybe that's what you're thinking about. However, once the 'final shedding' starts, it takes exactly as long as we've shown here.
The whole process takes about 10 minutes. I watched one at the garden center. amazing to see the conversion happen.
@@MODGNAR I had two caterpillars turn into pupa today. They were hanging in their "j" formation and when I looked again after I had eaten my lunch they were transformed. It could not have taken more than 30 minutes and now I can see it probably took a lot less time than that.
This is incredible. Nature is the greatest designer.
Is this real-time or time lapse? It's so fast!
Other than the cross dissolve at the end, it's real-time.
I find this FASCINATING! I Have Milkweed and Catepillars to the right of Breezway , 3 baby cardinals in nest on the left.
Don' t want last remaining monarch C. 2 B dinner 4 Madam Cardinal so im making a plan. Any ideas?
Move the caterpillars to a jar with a mesh top. Add fresh milkweed leaves as needed.
my friend lied to me and told me they were white and very hairy. worst mistake of my life.
Does it turn to mush then squeeze all of it into its head?
That's so creepy how it wiggles around at 3:30!
That’s the butterfly inside it trying to escape
Your Pokémon caterpie is evolving into metapod!!! Nice
Oh my gosh, I thought the caterpillar built the chyrsalis, not that it BECAME the chrysalis. However, you skip over one portion that I really wish I could see, right at 3:47. I have a caterpillar in my home and it went from caterpillar to chrysalis if 4 hours. I missed the entire thing! But I really want to see how it goes from still looking sort of like a caterpillar to looking like a chrysalis. Why did you skip that part??? This was fascinating, though!! Thx.
It's skipped because there isn't much to see. It's just an oblong green thing becoming a somewhat less oblong thing over the course of 20 minutes or so. It's real tedious to watch in real time.
But, we still have the footage. I can probably get it put together and uploaded tomorrow. Keep in mind that it'll still be dealing with the limitations of video recording with a DSLR, so it'll be limited to 29:59 of continuous footage. I'll post the link to it here when it's uploaded.
You can find it here - ua-cam.com/video/T2ePJIgiQc0/v-deo.html
How long does this process take, from caterpillar to chrysalis? My sister has taken very good care of a monarch cat but it has been a J for about 6 hours now. He is getting fatter at the top but that is all, and all the posts I see make it seem like this is a minutes-long process, not hours. Help?!
The 'J' stage can last for as long as a day. Typically, if I have one that goes into the 'J' shape in the late afternoon, it'll pupate the next morning. The actual pupation process takes as long as it does in the video - it's being shown in real time. You'll know that the start of pupation is close when the larva's antenna 'deflate.'
Jefferson Lab Thank you so much! I went downstairs when my fiance left for work to check, and the antennae had in fact gotten floppy and the caterpillar was kind of rippling from head to tail. I thought I had time to go to the bathroom but by the time I got my sister awake and downstairs it had already pupated! Now we know for the younger one which will pupate in about a week. Thanks again!
How does the body fit in that tiny skin layer
Hi! I’m raising my first monarch caterpillar and I have a question. It has been more than two weeks since it hatched, but it’s still not forming into a chrysalis. I put a stick in the jar but it’s not climbing onto it. What shall I do now? Thank you!
Just give it time. As long as there is food for it to eat, it'll take care of itself. There is a period between the "I'm done eating" phase and the "I'm forming a chrysalis" phase where it doesn't seem to do much of anything. That period lasts for about a day.
@@JeffersonLab Thank you for your reply! I stopped worrying about it and left it alone for a while. Today when I checked, it's doing the J hang after almost 19 days of leaf-eating. :D
Good to hear!
It must be very hard
It looks like it's about to give birth to it's kidney
I'm worried. My monarch caterpillar started hanging upside down last night, but now he's looking kinda saggy and brown. I hope he's not dead!
Sorry, but it doesn't sound good.
@@JeffersonLab It's okay! I mean, if it died, that's a bummer, but it happens. To be clear, I didn't keep him or anything. I found him in my garden, and I just checked on him every day or two to make sure he was doing well. Once they start hanging like that, how long would you say it takes before they noticeably change?
@@JeffersonLab Also, he doesn't look as brown as I thought, but he does look like he's losing his colors a bit, and he's not moving.
If it's still in a 'J' shape, then it's probably okay. Or, it isn't obviously not okay. If it's 'relaxed' out of the 'J' shape, then that's not good.
In my experience, they usually stay in the 'J' stage for about a day.
@@JeffersonLab I'll go check!
Okay. But you didn't show it growing the chrysalis. You just faded out.
There is no growing of the chrysalis to show. What's seen as the skin peels away is the chrysalis.
This video didn't help answer my question, which was why is it coming out of the back of the head?? Where does it come from and how does it get all over him????
This is what forms underneath the skin. It doesn't so much 'get all over him' as it 'takes off a caterpillar costume.'
Star Wise
The “caterpillar” is basically skinning itself
Why did you cut the last part? That's the part I wanted to see.
What last part? The emergence? It takes about a week for the metamorphosis to run its course. We weren't going to shoot for a week waiting for it to finish. So, you cut the video and give the emergence its own: ua-cam.com/video/mjADshD3msk/v-deo.html
i have one that went into the upside down J today. How long before the change will begin with the green?
They usually stay in the 'J' position for about a day.
How much time does the process take, once they are hanging and start to change?
They stay in the 'J' position for about a day.
@@JeffersonLab I mean, how long does the change from caterpillar to pupa take? They hang in a J for a while, but is it a process from caterpillar to green in 5 minutes or 5 hours? I'm trying to get a video and want to make sure I have enough battery/memory. Thanks!
This video is shot in real time. So, the change takes as long as it is shown here (other than the transition at the end, which represents something like a 20 minute jump).
so the crysilis is extruded from its body?
+Destany Seymour Not exactly. The chrysalis is formed within the body and then the outer layer of skin is shed, revealing the chrysalis.
Hmm interesting. Thank you!
This is very disturbing.
Eat a bunch of leaves,
turn into a leaf.
I caught 8 of them but today I found a baby one and a couple of mine are in their chrysalis
wow ! this situation looks like pokemon evolution. Nice video.
3:15 it looks like it’s dancing lol
Were those black strands its legs!?
No. The things on its head and hindquarters are called tentacles. The ones on the head are used as sense organs (the caterpillar can't see well) and the back ones might be used to confuse predators (makes it more difficult to tell which end is the front and which end is the back).
What horrible audio
Ambient sound.
You faded at 3:47, denying us a look at it becoming its final shape
If you want to see the uncut version, you can follow the link in the description: ua-cam.com/video/T2ePJIgiQc0/v-deo.html
Skipped right over the part I came here to see.... :(
Which would be which part?
@@JeffersonLab was expecting to see the formation going on in the chrysalis rather than skipping right over to the end when the wings are formed and the butterfly emerges
is a catapiller with green and black lines and 3 yellow dots a monarch ?
Yes, that's a monarch caterpillar.
i dont have any milkweed to feed it, its eating carrot tops, is that unusual ? @@JeffersonLab
Whoops. Thought you were referring to the caterpillar in the video. What you're describing is probably a swallowtail butterfly caterpillar. They eat carrot tops and other plants in the fennel family, like parsley. Their chrysalises sort of 'lean back' like a linesman climbing a pole with a belt. If it forms late in the season, they will remain as a chrysalis over the winter and the butterfly will emerge in the spring. Otherwise, they emerge from the chrysalis in about 7 to 10 days. See if this matches what you have: butterfly-lady.com/do-you-have-parsley-worms/
Byron Johnson
Polyxenes?
Wait a sec...what happened at 3:47 to get to the last stage?
The uncut version of this process can be found here: ua-cam.com/video/T2ePJIgiQc0/v-deo.html
"gotta fit. Gotta fit...."
Caterpie is evolving.
Did the caterpillar just fell off the cocoon!?😕😕😕😕😕😕😕😕😕😕😕😕😕😕
No, it shed its skin, revealing the chrysalis.
The cocoon was dancing
Could someone please actually explain this to me?
How long was the whole process?
Other than the crossfade towards the end, this is shown in real time. The part that was skipped in the crossfade was about 15 minutes.
this is fast forward right?
No. That's real time (other than the crossfade at the end).
So cool! Nice editing too. The attachment from the caterpillar/chrysalis to the 'substrate' must be exceptionally strong. What is that made of?
Silk
3:00 CLOSE UP
Pretty interesting how animals can do that