For day 2 of 30 Days Wild, we watched our small tortoiseshell caterpillars hang upside down on the lid of their pot and turn into chrysalises. You can watch the video and read the blog post here.
A week and a half later, they have all hatched out. When they're ready to hatch the chrysalis starts to look paper thin and you can see the pattern on the butterflies wings inside.
The skin splits and the butterfly bursts head first out of the chrysalis. It's hard to see how all that butterfly can come out of that tiny chrysalis.
They squeeze the rest of the body and their wings out, then crawl up the empty chrysalis so that they can hang down and expand their wings. The whole thing takes less than 30 seconds.
They hang there and fully expand their wings, straightening them out and letting them dry.
After an hour or two, they're ready to go and fly off.
They've all hatched now and have flown off into the garden. It's been a real joy to look after them and watch them as they go through such an incredible transformation.
Brilliant video
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