The Life of a Monarch, Part 9

{continued from part eight}

I honestly never thought my series would still be going now, but I was wrong! :)

isn't it amazing how tiny they are? :)

I left off with Tallulah and Jay Jr. having already formed their chrysalises (Nov. 18). The next day, Pete Norris formed his. So all three of our oldest caterpillars have gone "green".

starting to see some veins (part of the wing)

There is no denying that these chrysalises are beautiful. The gold spots, the lovely shade of green, don't you love it? :)

I also happened to check up on the milkweed plant a week or so ago, to see if any of the other eggs had hatched. I was thinking they probably froze during the night, since it's been a little chilly here. Yet again, I was wrong! The eggs had hatched, and I think even more have been laid since. I counted twenty-four caterpillars on the plant today. I had no idea that there would still be caterpillars around near the end of November! But it makes for a good blog series, right? ;)

So what exactly is going on in the chrysalis? Well, I'm not really sure. But I do know the Monarch is going from a long, fat, squishy caterpillar, into a magnificent, bold, colorful butterfly. That, folks, is honest-to-goodness proof of a Creator. No question about it. You can not look at this life cycle, or any life cycle, and not see a Creator behind it. Can I hear an Amen?

I love posting my own pictures of the Monarch life cycle, and all of the pictures posted so far were taken my me. I'd like to point you to this website, because they have more pictures of how exactly the Monarch goes into it's chrysalis- a very fascinating thing to see. :)

I'll try to keep you updated on the "green" caterpillars, as well as they younger ones. ;)


abby

{continue to part ten}