The Wonder of Nature – Metamorphosis of Butterflies

A butterfly can be referred to at times representing many things – with its beautiful and colorful body it becomes a symbol of beauty that is used in various decorations, prints, or butterfly favors and gifts. With its smooth flight, it becomes a symbol of freedom. And with the different changes it undergoes within its lifetime, it becomes a symbol of change – for the good. Much like any other organism, the butterfly lets nature takes its course for it to fully live a life as an adult.

Here’s a brief look at the lifecycle that changes an ordinary egg to a majestic beauty.

A butterfly will undergo a total of 4 cycles before it becomes a full caterpillar adult. Starting as an egg, it changes to become a caterpillar, then to a pupa in preparation to the full adult life as a butterfly. In each of these stages, it undergoes many physical changes necessary for its survival.

In its first stage as an egg, it is simply much like any other egg – small and is round, oval or cylindrical in shape. These are instinctively placed near trees by the female near plants, as when it grows, the leaves in the trees become the food for the caterpillar.

Once the egg hatches, it goes on to the second stage where it becomes a caterpillar. Already eating, living and crawling, the caterpillar is the cycle where it is most expected to grow. Hence, the caterpillar spends most of its living time eating – gathering enough nutrients as it prepares for the next cycle. But while a caterpillar and continuously eating, the caterpillar cannot stretch its exoskeleton, thus, it is only able to shed skin as many times as it can during this cycle.

On the third stage, the crawling and eating caterpillar becomes a shell or a case called a pupa. While it may simply look still or uneventful, inside the pupa the caterpillar a lot of changes, including growing wings. The different parts and organs of the caterpillar still further transforms to become the parts and organ to be needed by the butterfly.

At the last and final stage, the full grown adult butterfly emerges beautifully. With its wings still folded, the pupa breaks down and slowly the butterfly comes out. The new form of the butterfly takes shape and at this stage, as it is considered to be in its adult phase, the butterfly is capable of reproducing, thus creating new eggs and repeating the cycle all over again.

Apart from its beauty, butterfly helps balance the circle of life in nature. By helping plants and maintaining the balance of other small creatures, one can say that it is truly worth the wait when you allow nature to transform a simple and ordinary egg into nature’s beauty.