Monday, August 12, 2013

Manly Cat Monday and Caterpillar Update

Mom said just yesterday that Audrey provides more cute photo ops than Simba, and then Simba came up next to Mom on the couch last night while she had the camera.


All the remaining caterpillars ate up all the parsley and either wandered away (Dad caught about 3 more of them and put them in the box) or formed the chrysali right on the parsley stems.      What is so interesting is the way they match their environment's color:   Look at this:


There are THREE like that!     Mother Nature is pretty interesting.    


25 comments:

  1. Very cool indeed! (You too, Simba!)

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  2. it is amazing!!! I also love how Simba seems to be saying, "I'll show you!"

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  3. WTG Simba! Isn't it fun to prove your Mom Wrong?

    We wonder if these butterflies will be slightly different colored than the brown ones?

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  4. Good job being cute Simba! But of course we always think you're cute! Mother Nature is pretty amazing and we can't wait to see what happens next!

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  5. You look very regal in that picture, Simba!

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  6. WOW! That is so cool about the chrysalis! My human hasn't seen one in action since she was a kid. She needs to get out more, LOL!

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  7. Simba you are a very handsome mancat and we can't wait to see the butterflies emerge!

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  8. Simba...NO one is handsomer (more handsome!!) than you, Sir Simba.

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  9. Simba, you're looking very handsome today. And you're right, Mother Nature is interesting. Yesterday, the mom was watering some plants and a bug crawled out of one...it looked just like a leaf! You could barely see that it was there. The mom looked it up and found out it was a katydid.

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  10. Trixie of the J-Cats is having a birfday today! 1 year old!

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  11. Wow, how fascinating about the chrysalis matching the color of their environment! Way to show the mom, Simba. :)

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  12. Can't wait to see all the flutterbys! Handsome pic of Simba.

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  13. Welllllll, you are Handsome Simba, but I admit I'm a little partial to Audrey.....just sayin'.

    Hey, how long before those caterpillar thingamajigs become butterflies? And....which are they now? CPs or BFs???

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    1. Spitty, during the chrysalis stage, really the caterpillar kind of dissolves into a sort of soup in there, from which the butterfly forms. So now I think they are closer to the caterpillar than the butterfly. The shortest time to the butterfly might be about 14 days. But may be longer. If it is cold enough with no chance or another life cycle, the chrysalis will last till the spring. It is possible to force that to happen by keeping the chrysalis in the fridge!

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    2. "really the caterpillar kind of dissolves into a sort of soup in there"

      Ewwwwww. Doesn't this seem a little bit like that Sigourney Weaver movie where the Alien laid eggs in the Humans and later new aliens came bursting out of people's TUMS???

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    3. Eww is right! What an image! Here is a Scientific American article about it:

      http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=caterpillar-butterfly-metamorphosis-explainer

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  14. Simba! Thanks for visiting Me on my birthday!
    What interesting bugs you have! It must be such fun to chase them and whap them! Of course, birdies are better, but bugs are fun too (mol).

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  15. That is very interesting about the caterpillars. Can't wait to see what the butterflies look like.Wonder where the rest of the gang went. Thanks for keeping us up to date.

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  16. Ooooooo the little green-filled kind, my favorite!

    Much juicier than after they all powdery later on.

    xoxo
    Ms. Stella O'Houligan

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  17. you must tell simba it's manly cat monday tho~ i think it's your humans fault, you have to let simba know these things for hi to pose.

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  18. Are you sure those things won't suddenly come to life and creep up on you while you sleep?

    We read that article, but we can't say as it make us feel any better. It's rare for the Human and me to agree on something, but we both think the ICK-factor outweighs the MIRACLE-OF-NATURE factor. Soup! ::shudder::

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  19. Mozers! That looks just like OUR parsley! Bare to the uh - stem...!

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