The Monarch Butterfly Life Cycle

1. The monarch butterfly first lays its eggs on a swan plant leaf then flies away to lay more eggs. You can tell if it is a boy because it has a black dot on its hind wing.  If it’s a girl it has no dot.  Riley

2. The egg is on the swan plant. It is stuck with a special glue so that the caterpillars don’t escape from the egg. Trent

3. The caterpillar nibbles out of the egg into the human world. It starts to eat the eggshell.  When it is gone, the caterpillar goes to find a swan plant.  William

The caterpillar is getting ready to hatch out of his/her egg.  The egg is about the size of a sesame seed and is on the underside of the swan plant leaf. Lukas

4. The caterpillar goes around chewing the swan plant up.  When it gets bigger, it sheds its skin.  Max

5. When the caterpillar is big and fat, it sheds its skin and a chrysalis forms. Inside the chrysalis, a soupish substance is changing.  Isla

6. It stays there for a few days. Then it turns black and hatches out. Lainee

7. Before the butterfly can fly for its first time and collect nectar from the flowers, it has to pump fluid into its wings so they are not limp any more.  After its wings have strengthened, it flies for the first time, and the life cycle repeats. Tom