Thursday, July 19, 2007

Mourning Cloak 2

Yesterday when we went to town we could tell that the caterpillars were going to their next phase because one began attaching itself to the side of the jar with a fine web and the other was doing this weird dance as it hung from the small twig. Fours hours later on our return home we found these chrysalises!

Now the wait begins for the butterflies to emerge. And for those inquiring minds that wanted to know about the caterpillar droppings we have for your viewing pleasure. . .caterpillar poop!
The tree branches on which we searched for the caterpillars hang over a white gray cement pad so it was easy to see all the droppings that were so kindly put there by the offending leaf eaters. And now ya know!

7 comments:

wild murdocks said...

Bugs sure are fun! River likes this website to look up the bugs he finds.

www.whatsthatbug.com

Vanessa and Rebecca said...

That's disgusting. :-)

Mrs. O said...

Ok, caterpillar poop is alot bigger than I thought it'd be. Must be all that fiber.

Lisa said...

So I read your caterpillar story the other day, and today I was sweeping the back patio and found a caterpillar on the ground. I have never kept one, so we decided to try. However, since it was on the patio I have no idea what kind it is or what it eats. Now we are just worried we will kill the poor thing. Hopefully we don't and can watch the whole process. Thanks for the pictures-and info on the poo. I was wondering the same thing!

Dave Thurston said...

Last year we had two caterpillars. When they came out of their chyrsilas, they came out likit-split. We missed the first one by a few minutes and came close to missing the second even though we were watching it the whole time.

Have fun watching them - poop and all.

Anonymous said...

i'm enjoying your photos. i'm sure your children are too (enjoying watching the caterpillar story). love the botte. :-) is it a preserving jar?

vipi said...

My young boys and I just discovered three Mourning Cloak chrysalises hanging from the eaves of our house. We want to know if we can remove them and put them in something to bring them to their classrooms. Will this cause them harm since they are already attached to something? If we can move them, how do we keep them?