I actually was lucky enough to see a caterpillar turn into a chrysalis! Wow! I did not have my video camera so I took a picture of it with my phone camera.
The chrysalis to the right was just like the "J" caterpillar in the background to the left one second and then 20 seconds later - it was a chrysalis. It wiggled out of the caterpillar skin, starting at the bottom end first - which is the caterpillar's head. Eventually, the skin was all off and a green chrysalis emerged! The caterpillar/chrysalis then did a wiggle dance! It was trying to get the skin to fall off. In the picture you can see it almost wiggled it off but got caught on it's way down. So you see some black caterpillar skin hanging at the bottom of the chrysalis.
I will keep checking in to see if I can capture this transformation on video. Amazing!
Now I see how some caterpillars detach and fall. They do so much wiggling during this stage. If they are not anchored securely by their silk thread, they fall.
I had to reattach another little fella today. Another unsuccessful attacher going into the "J."
No wonder only 1 out of 10 caterpillars make it to butterfly stage in the wild.
Chrysalis count today is 15. Yikes! I just went over there to count the chrysalis and missed a transformation.
I better go keep my eye on them. More soon!
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