The photo above shows to Monarch Butterfly chrysales which are about 7/8ths of an inch in height and about a half inch in diameter. We have four of them left here at the front desk of the Discovery Center. This happens to be a hobby of June and Ron Shaw who protect 150 monarch eggs per year and nurtture them through the caterpillar and chrysalis stages. The visiting public spends a lot of time enjoying this every day.
What you see here is a monarch butterfly which has broken out of its chrysalis, which is immediately to the left of the beautiful creature, about three hours before this photo was taken. We have a display at the front desk and this former caterpillar decided to hang on a small branch about 25 days ago, the chrysalis gestation period.
This morning the chrysalis started to crack about 10 a.m. and it was hardly noticeable because the hatching starts at the bottom of the chrysalis. From the photo you can see how the monarch extends and hangs next to the empty shell for up to four hours before it is able to take its first flight. It takes that long for the hatchling to extend and dry out. You can see that the butterfly is about three times the height of the chrysalis after hanging for three hours, soaking up the sun and drying its outer skin which is necessary to enable flight.
This miracle of nature was awesome to watch today. The Shaw's have a very interesting presentation about their monarch hobby at http://shawadventures.com If you would like to learn more, please google Butterflies in Your Back Yard or TheButterflyPlace
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