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Drama

August 21st, 2006 · by map · 4 Comments

So we’ve a little insect drama going on at our house, and I figured I’d present it in pictures:

Caterpillar

It showed up on the edge of one of our hibiscus planters the other day and worked its way around the drip shelf five or six times.

Anchor

It finally found a spot it liked and started fastening an anchor to the edge of the drip shelf.

Hangin'

Once it had the anchor done, it spun around, attached its butt, and just hung there.

Chrysalis

It’s amazing how fast this happened. I don’t know much about monarch butterflies, but I always figured it would take longer to make the chrysalis. Nope. I swear it was only a matter of an hour before everything was sealed up like this.

Remains

And this was all that was left of the caterpillar. It’s like a snakeskin crunched up and left on the ground.

I wanted to bring the planter in and set it in front of my webcam so I could get some footage of the butterfly emerging, but Leah says, “Oh just leave it in its natural environment.” Whatever. Natural? On my porch on the edge of a plastic planter? OK.

Tags: Outdoors · Photography