THE LIFE CYCLE OF A BUTTERFLY

THE EGG

• The egg of a butterfly is small, round and oval shaped
• You can see the larva growing inside if you look closely
• Butterfly eggs are usually laid on the leaf of plants
• A butterfly egg will take on average a week to hatch

THE LARVA

• When the egg hatches, a small larva, or caterpillar comes out
• The larva will start by eating the leaf they were born on
• This is important because when a larva becomes a butterfly and lays eggs
• Its offspring will only eat the type of leaf/plant its mother ate, nothing else
• The larva's life is just eating and eating, until they've reached their full limit

CHRYSALIS

• Then it becomes a chrysalis.
• The larvae use their mouths to weave silk around themselves
• Until they have a cocoon, or chrysalis.
• Inside this, the larva is going through a transformation - metamorphosis
• The larva's body goes through metamorphosis, and when the process finishes...

BUTTERFLY

• It emerges as a fully grown butterfly!
• The butterfly breaks through the chrysalis
• And pumps blood into its wings before setting off to mate
• The butterfly's whole life is finding a mate, and then, the cycle starts again
• It's life, is on average, about a week long

THIS IS THE SHORT AND HARD LIFE