Butterflies

This passage discusses the various growth stages of a butterfly.

Lexile Level: 880L

Categories: Animals & Nature

Scientists estimate that there are about 25,000 kinds of butterflies. Some of the most beautiful butterflies are poisonous to birds. If a bird eats a poisonous butterfly, the bird will spit it out and never eat a butterfly that looks like that again! Butterflies go through four life cycles. Each begins as an egg. The larva, or caterpillar, hatches from the egg and begins the eating stage of life. Caterpillars eat constantly, beginning with their own eggshell. Then, some caterpillars eat the leaves of the plants on which they hatched. Other caterpillars live in ants' nests and eat ant larvae. When a caterpillar has grown hundreds of times bigger, it spins a cocoon and turns into a pupa, or chrysalis. This is the resting stage and also the stage where the caterpillar turns into an adult butterfly. Once the adult emerges, the stage of mating and reproduction begins. New eggs are laid, and the cycle begins again.