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Bluebag Media
East students learn
about the monarch butterfly
GREENVILLE – “The Magic of the Monarch Butterfly.” Mandy Martin and
Hannah Linebaugh, Darke County parks naturalists, paid a visit to
Sherry Flora’s science class at East School Sept. 29. Their topic was
the unique monarch butterfly.
Martin went through its life cycle, from fertilization and laying eggs,
to becoming hungry caterpillars… “If you ate as much as these little
guys in such a short period of time, how big do you think you would be?”
The students had no answer. “As big as a school bus,” she said. She
finished describing the cycle, noting in Day 18 or 19 the caterpillar
will spin a “little pad… then hang in a ‘J’ shape” from a twig. It
becomes a chrysalis. During Day 10 of that stage the chrysalis becomes
clear – you can see the butterfly – and about four hours later the
butterfly emerges.
During the caterpillar stage, the primary source of food is the
milkweed. “This makes the butterfly poisonous to vertebrates… anything
with a backbone.” Like other butterflies, the monarch drinks nector
from flowers as an adult...
Read the rest of the article at Bluebag Media
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