Flight of Fatty

Our eight lovely monarch caterpillars have all changed into butterflies, and we sent our beloved Fatty, the last one, off yesterday.

We carted these all the way up north to Lake Vermilion, only to have nothing happen. They rode on the boat to and from the island.

The chrysalis in the front is just about two days away from the butterfly coming out, and the one behind is about one day from emerging. You can see the wing patterns like veins beneath the chrysalis shell.

 This one came out about 15 minutes after I took this picture. So, so pretty!!

So when a monarch comes out, it is very quick. It pushes against the chrysalis and comes out the bottom first, then breaks through the rest of the chrysalis. It unfolds its body and hangs onto the top of the chrysalis. It does not move its wings around for quite some time; at least an hour.

The wings are small and miniature looking when them emerge, but they lengthen quickly!

Watching the butterflies in all stages has been so much fun.

We had four come out within a couple hours of each other on Monday. It was so fun to watch!

Here, Viggo releases the first batch of them. You can see all the other chrysalii stuck onto the inside of the lid of the butterfly pavilion.

We could not stress enough to NOT touch the wings too much. Butterfly wings are covered with powder; it helps them stay airborne. The butterfly wing powder was discovered when Viggo and I caught a butterfly at a garden once, and we both had what looked like chalk on our hands, that was the exact color of the butterfly we had been holding.

 Watching Fatty, the last and pokiest butterfly, come out to meet us.

And here is Fatty as a newly emerged monarch, his wings are small and rounded and his body, I'm sorry to say, is quite thick and flabby. There are also some secretions that happen that we'd rather not discuss; let's just say the butterfly pavilion needs a good hosing down. It's not all beauty being a butterfly.

Fatty did not want to leave; he was the last to turn into a chrysalis, the last to morph into a butterfly, and then he wanted to sit on Viggo's hand. We also kept him in the pavilion for a few extra hours.

Have a good flight to Mexico, Fatty! We loved caring for you!