INSECT METAMORPHOSIS
The Monarch butterfly egg hatches into a wriggly little caterpillar that eats and grows and molts and eats and grows and molts until it is ready to pupate. After its last molt, it changes into a beautiful green chrysalis. Inside the chrysalis great changes are occurring. Soon the chrysalis will split open and an adult monarch butterfly will emerge. Incredible! We wrote Insect Metamorphosis, From Egg to Adult (Atheneum Books for Young Readers, New York, 1990) to show kids (and adults) the fascinating story of insect metamorphosis, how insects grow from a tiny egg to an adult with wings. I chose a variety of insects and photographed each stage of their development and how different they looked and behaved at each. I photographed examples of both complete and incomplete metamorphosis.
I took most of the insect photos outside in situ. But, for photos of the hickory horned devil, we raised the moth inside from eggs that a friend found in the field. When the caterpillars started hatching out of the eggs, we filled the bottom of a large glass terrarium someone had given us with dirt and placed the caterpillars inside. We went to the woods to collect batches of walnut leaves to feed them. As expected, the caterpillars ate and grew and molted and grew some more. With each new instar I took photos. As I was photographing a series of photos of a final molt, a drama occurred. A piece of the caterpillar’s new skin had gotten stuck to its exoskeleton. If the skin tore off when the caterpillar pulled away and created a hole, the caterpillar would bleed to death. Fortunately, tragedy was averted and the caterpillar crawled away with skin intact.
Click on the arrow at the top right of the photo to go to the next pages in the slide show of the book below.
I took most of the insect photos outside in situ. But, for photos of the hickory horned devil, we raised the moth inside from eggs that a friend found in the field. When the caterpillars started hatching out of the eggs, we filled the bottom of a large glass terrarium someone had given us with dirt and placed the caterpillars inside. We went to the woods to collect batches of walnut leaves to feed them. As expected, the caterpillars ate and grew and molted and grew some more. With each new instar I took photos. As I was photographing a series of photos of a final molt, a drama occurred. A piece of the caterpillar’s new skin had gotten stuck to its exoskeleton. If the skin tore off when the caterpillar pulled away and created a hole, the caterpillar would bleed to death. Fortunately, tragedy was averted and the caterpillar crawled away with skin intact.
Click on the arrow at the top right of the photo to go to the next pages in the slide show of the book below.
ANIMAL DVDS
To see my animal videos, you can stream them on amazon for $1.99 each for unlimited viewing for a week or for $15.00 each you can stream as often as you want forever.
Click on the DVD icons below to view or access my videos on amazon.com.
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Click on the DVD icons below to view or access my videos on amazon.com.
You will be leaving this website to go to amazon.com. We hope to see you back soon!
