Friday, April 18, 2008
News on Our Royal Baby
I've been asked about how Jem is doing.
At 22 days, the pupa's top half compressed and the outer clear skin hardened into a protective shell. The Pupae or Chrysalis hung for more than a week. look at Picture #2 and you will see gold spots and a golden ring around the top. Chrysalis is a Greek word meaning golden crown.
This is a point at which butterfly pupae can be handled transported because they are dormant. It is also when the sex of the pupa can be determined for the first time. Check out the explanation.
Jem has wings and is on her way!
See Jem's final Live Monarch Update page for close-ups and a movie file of Jem's wings stretching out...Our little Jem is all grown up. They leave home so fast...*sniff!*
At 22 days, the pupa's top half compressed and the outer clear skin hardened into a protective shell. The Pupae or Chrysalis hung for more than a week. look at Picture #2 and you will see gold spots and a golden ring around the top. Chrysalis is a Greek word meaning golden crown.This is a point at which butterfly pupae can be handled transported because they are dormant. It is also when the sex of the pupa can be determined for the first time. Check out the explanation.
What we've been waiting for
Jem has wings and is on her way!
See Jem's final Live Monarch Update page for close-ups and a movie file of Jem's wings stretching out...Our little Jem is all grown up. They leave home so fast...*sniff!*
Saturday, March 29, 2008
Jem is Truly Outrageous!
At age 18 days, Jem suddenly decided to stop in the middle of eating a milkweed leaf and did this: Jem decided to spin a silk anchor like many times before, but this time turned around and "sat" on the sticky pad instead. Changes are afoot...Note that even by the afternoon, Jem was still hanging in a J position. It's like Jem knows what the coolest letter of the alphabet really is. Sorry, all you other contenders. :)Jem must be terribly itchy at this point (like me, although certainly not because of an outbreak of shingles), because the 'pillar will start dancing frantically to get rid of the final skin before becoming a pupa.
At this point the adult butterfly parts are already visible, and the outer skin showing is now exactly the color of the plants Jem has been eating. Good luck, l'il dancing queen, young and sweet only, uh, EIGHTEEN! (Pardon my weakness for ABBA.)
Labels: butterfly, Jem, milkweed, monarch, pupa
Sunday, March 09, 2008
Jem is 18!
Check out the update here...Jem is now also a dancing pupa. I think this is the most incredible stage. As I mentioned in a previous post, it's not like caterpillars just slim down, change leg shape and sprout wings--no, they actually morph into a cellular soup and rebuild themselves to be something entirely different.
Also, if you have any interest in helping these incredible creatures, free milkweed seeds or live plants (with a donation) are provided through LiveMonarch.org, which is a not-for-profit foundation.
Labels: butterfly, Jem, milkwee, monarch, pupa
