Black Swallowtail And Monarch Butterfly Metamorphosis
This post was made to show my footage and photos of part of the life cycle of the Monarch butterfly, and Eastern Black Swallowtail butterfly. With both species, I chose to take 5th instar (about to metamorphosize) caterpillars, because they would need to spend the least amount of time in captivity, and require the least amount of care... ...When I was on my trip to Lake Placid, NY , I woke up one morning, at 5:00am, in search of deer and loons. I pulled over at the side of the road suddenly when I saw the distant reddish shape of a young buck, feeding in an overgrown feild. I tried getting closer and closer, until it got spooked, and ran off... I turned back, and started to walk through the tall weeds, back to my car. The meadow was mainly made up of tall grass, canada goldenrod, daisies, and common milkweed. As I approached a patch of the common milkweed, I noticed something yellow on one of the plants. A 5th instar monarch caterpillar. ...As well as a (2nd instar
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