Monarch caterpillars and butterflies
Waitohi Kindergarten have been keeping a watchful eye on the many Monarch caterpillars they have in their inside butterfly cage. They are on swan plants in specially made containers by one of the Kaiako. Tamariki have been excited to check the cage each day to see if any more of the caterpillars have turned into chrysalis or if the chrysalis have hatched.
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- Monarch caterpillar
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- Monarch pupa
A couple of the students were happy to share their knowledge of the process and they knew a lot! The Maori name for Monarch is Kakahu. It is important to just watch and not touch the caterpillars, especially when they are shedding their skin. It takes three weeks for the caterpillars to reach full size and all they need is lots of food (the swan plant is their favourite) and water. You need to clean their cage because all that eating means lots of caterpillar poo. When the caterpillar turns into a butterfly it makes a pupa then when it comes out it hangs outside the pupa to dry its wings. You can’t touch the butterfly yet or you might hurt its wings. After a wee while its wings are dry you can carefully put the butterfly on your finger and let it go, but only if it is sunny.