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As the Pupa January 20-February 6



Monarch Butterfly caterpillar preparing to go into the cocoon state, photograph, copyright 2000, Nancy Hopkins, 21C-Online at Miami-Dade-online.com, South Florida's web-based magazine. Picture of a Monarch butterfly caterpillar on a Ficus leaf, Miami, FloridaAt dusk on the 20th, the caterpillar was about the same as it had been. I was worried because the wind was up and it was going to be cold. At 9 A.M. the next morning, I could not find the caterpillar. I looked and looked and then out of the corner of my eye, I saw something new. It was a miraculous transformation that had happened in 14 hours!





Our caterpillar is now a a pupa.



Within days, the outside temperatures dropped drastically. Fearing for the pupa's life, I cut the limb the leaf was on keeping it on the back porch each evening and bringing it back outside each morning. There was little change to the pupa, although the leaves had darkened and died.



But after a few warm days, the chrysalis began darkening and changing shape. This picture was taken on February 6. Up until shortly before this, the changes were too subtle to photograph. Had it been warmer, the chrysalis could have gone to this phase in a week. The following were taken on February 6, sixteen days after the caterpillar had become a pupa.

GO TO CHAPTER 3, In Birth





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