We woke up to find a Painted Lady butterfly flying around the habitat this morning, and shortly after a second butterfly emerged.
It is so exciting. Honestly, I worried about these insects a lot more than I should have; I was so nervous that they would not survive. The thought of having to explain to my children that the butterflies were in heaven was weighing on me. Why do I worry about things like this?
The red liquid you see in the above photo is not blood; it is meconium. The meconium is made up of the leftover coloring and tissues from the butterfly's formation. I was actually very excited to be able to see this. We did not see it with the first butterfly that emerged because we were sleeping soundly and there was no trace of it this morning.
We have learned these fun Painted Lady facts:
- Her scientific name is Vanessa cardui L.
- She can lay up to 500 eggs
- She may travel 1,000 miles in her lifetime
- She breathes through her abdomen
- She tastes with her feet
- She has 10,000 eyes
- The normal life span of a Painted Lady is 2 to 4 weeks
6 comments:
What a great learning experience! I remember doing this with my first graders (when I taught) and it was always one of their favorite memories at the end of the year.
I'm glad they all survived and thrived!
I never knew they tasted with their feet!! However, I read this post to Hanna as I read it and she knew:-).
Amazing! thanks for sharing.
We have visited the Butterfly Conservatory a few times....just love going.
That's so awesome, what an experience for your kiddos! I love the lessons that you do and even though I don't homeschool, I plan on doing some of them with my girls. I'm one of those moms who is constantly supplementing school curriculum to keep the oldest one interested.
that's so neat! I love that you had all the info about them & shared it! :)
I can't wait to do this with Z some day
Yay for hardy butterflies! What an awesome learning experience for your kids.
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