Yesterday was a lucky day for me. I was working at home day on website projects when I noticed one of the caterpillars Hannah and I have been raising hanging from the bottom of a leaf.

caterpillar ready to pupate

I set my iPhone timer at 30-minute intervals to remind me to check on it throughout the morning. I was lucky enough to arrive just in time to watch the metamorphosis from caterpillar to chrysalis.

monarch chrysalis

You can still see the caterpillar’s pattern on the chrysalis, but those lines disappeared as the shell slowly hardened.

After watching the first caterpillar pupate, I set the stage to catch the next caterpillar on camera. I rigged up my iPhone with a selfie stick awkwardly taped to the table to film this little guy. In 9 to fourteen days we’ll have Monarch butterflies. If my luck holds, I’ll be home when the butterfly emerges!

The transformation I filmed took just over four minutes. This video shows the process in double-time. The wonders of nature!

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