Butterfly Hatching

Over the course of a month, we watched over a hundred caterpillars turn into butterflies.  These are the Wasp Moth caterpillars. 

We had so many we took them to Eco Academy and gave them away to each classmate... and we still had over 50 left.  Each day Scout would walk down the street to the oleander bush in the neighbor's yard to collect leaves for them to eat.  Some caterpillars were tiny tiny when we first found them.  Less than a centimeter.  They grew over the course of a few weeks, then turned into a chrysalis. 

One day we looked in the cage and saw that a whole bunch had hatched at the same time.  Usually there was only one or two a day. 

Here Scout is letting them fly for the first time. 

They look like a wasp for protection and camouflage, that's how they got their name. We learned that butterflies stand their wings up on their backs, and moths lay their wings flat - that is the distinguishing trait.  Since these lay their wings flat, they are in the moth family.  Both butterflies and moths fly at night, and can be an array of colors, so those aren't distinguishing characteristics.

After letting them go, Scout studied them on the internet and painted a picture of the life cycle.

The difference between moth and butterfly is - moths wings lay flat while butterfly wings are upright and together.  This harmless moth's wings look like a wasp as part of its camouflage from predators.