The life cycle of a butterfly is truly amazing. Each of the four life stages of butterflies is unique and interesting and can be easily observed in your garden or brought indoors for a fascinating and educational experience. At the end of this article, you can find links to more information on how to keep butterflies indoors, but first let’s look at the life cycle of butterflies.

Many adult butterflies have a lifespan of 2 weeks or less. Others, however, are migratory like Monarch butterflies and will live for many months. Most butterflies will lay several hundred eggs in their adult stage of the butterfly life cycle.

The Egg – The Beginning: Butterfly eggs are tiny, usually 1-3mm, and can be found on the butterfly’s host plant. The caterpillar usually hatches in less than a week after the butterfly lays the egg.

The Caterpillar – The Eating Machine: The main purpose of a caterpillar is to eat and grow and that is exactly what it does. Your body mass will increase thousands of times. Caterpillars grow so large that most caterpillars will moult 4-5 times as they outgrow their exoskeleton. After about 2-3 weeks of doing nothing but eating, pooping, growing, and molting, they will be ready to pupate.

The Chrysalis – The Amazing Transformation: No matter how many times I’ve seen it, I never cease to be amazed at how a caterpillar can turn into a butterfly in less than two weeks. For me, this is the most impressive stage of the butterfly’s life cycle. When the caterpillar is ready to pupate, it will spin silk, attach itself to a surface, and remain very still for about 24 hours. It then sheds its exoskeleton one last time, revealing the pupa, or chrysalis. From there the adult butterfly will emerge.

The adult butterfly: the cycle begins again: When the adult butterfly emerges, its wings will be wrinkled. The butterfly will not be able to fly, and it will have to “hang” its wings for a few hours to dry. During this time, the butterfly pumps its wings filled with fluid from its body to make them rigid. After several hours the butterfly will be ready for its first flight.

As an adult, the butterfly will find a mate. Once mating is complete, the female butterfly will begin laying her eggs on her specific host plants and the fascinating butterfly life cycle will begin anew.