How does a caterpillar become a butterfly?
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Transcript
How does a little caterpillar turn into a butterfly?
A caterpillar eats lots of leaves and grows big. Then it hangs from a branch and makes a little case called a chrysalis.
Inside the chrysalis, the caterpillar's body changes bit by bit. Wings, legs, and other butterfly parts grow.
The butterfly comes out with soft, crumpled wings. It pumps them full, lets them dry, and then it can fly.
So that's how a caterpillar becomes a butterfly. Its body changes safely inside a chrysalis!
For grown-ups: the science
A caterpillar grows, changes inside a chrysalis, and comes out as a butterfly.
This process is called complete metamorphosis. After feeding and growing as a larva, the caterpillar forms a pupa, often called a chrysalis for butterflies. Inside, many tissues are broken down and reorganized while adult structures, including wings, develop. The adult butterfly emerges, expands its wings by pumping fluid into their veins, and waits for them to dry and harden before flying.