Friends, I’ll do my best not to be too intense about it, but I truly will never get over how amazing the life cycle of moths and butterflies is. I mean, even if you have just a vague idea of how the process goes, you’ve got to admit it’s pretty mind-blowing. Let’s focus on butterflies:
In the simplest terms, it starts with an egg, which becomes a caterpillar, which becomes a chrysalis, which becomes a butterfly. Each form of a single butterfly is distinctly different, yet completely the same creature. Dig deeper? It gets infinitely cooler! For one thing, there isn’t just one stage of caterpillar-hood, there are up to nine instars (stages) depending on the species, and for each one the caterpillar sheds its exoskeleton to grow bigger and sometimes look entirely different. Once they’re in the chrysalis stage, the caterpillar mostly liquifies, but certain structures remain intact, like the tracheal tubes. And, did you know that butterflies retain some level of memory from their caterpillar stages? Freakin’ amazing.
So, when all goes well, the final result is an elegant insect with delicate, intricately patterned wings, the legs of a dancer, a whimsical curly proboscis, adorable antennae, and fascinating compound eyes.
But, what if all doesn’t go well?
Let me introduce you to my friend, Zap, the Great Spangled Fritillary. I found Zap and his sister, Zip as caterpillars in the leaf litter from last Fall, near some wild violets - the plant these caterpillars eat. If I wasn’t clear, I am quite enamored with the lives of butterflies, so I decided to create an enclosed habitat for the two babies and watch them grow and change. It was selfish, I know, and I have regrets. You see, Zappy had kind of a rough go from the moment his little spiked and rubbery caterpillar body was ready to settle in and become a chrysalis.
When it’s time for a caterpillar like Zap to transition to a chrysalis, a drop in their juvenile hormone takes place and, similar to puberty, the caterpillar gets moody and agitated - It appears almost frantic as it crawls around quickly and intently in a search for the perfect spot to attach, hang, and transition into the next stage. Zap decided his enclosure did not have that perfect spot and squeezed his way out from under its lid and onto the floor of our three-season porch.
I didn’t find the little guy for a couple of days. I searched high and low on that porch, between slats of the blinds, under the old wooden bench, in the crevices of the wreath on the door. Then in one final attempt at finding him, I picked up a large river rock I had sitting in a corner…and there he was, attached to the side of the cold stone that was facing the wall, but still in his caterpillar form.
I probably should have just left him there, but despite what Zappy’s impulsive teenage hormones told him, this really wasn’t the ideal spot for becoming a chrysalis. I gently detached him from the rock. He was cold and curled and I was afraid he might not be okay. After some web searching for advice, I placed him back into the tank with his sister, near a scrap of paper towel for something to grip. It was another two days before he finally became a chrysalis on the floor of the enclosure.
Well, shit, I thought. Doesn’t the chrysalis need to be hanging above the ground so that the butterfly can unfurl its wings when it emerges? I went back to the internet for help and decided I surely possessed the fine motor skills it would take to ever-so-gently tie a thread around the cremaster (the tip of the chrysalis that attaches to wherever it will hang) and suspend him from a twig.
He was pissed. This little brown capsule thrashed and wiggled as its only defense to ward off a perceived threat, and my clumsy fingers and ridiculously difficult to grasp string were that threat. But, the mission was accomplished. I placed the newly dangling Zap-alis in a wide-mouthed jar and began the wait for his emergence.
Little did I know, the struggle had only begun for my friend Zap.
About two weeks had passed since the start of the chrysalis stage, and it was clear that Zap would be eclosing (emerging) any time now. The shell of his little transformation capsule was looking more papery and transparent, and I was determined to witness the Big Event. I checked on him first thing every morning and several times throughout each day. Finally one weekend morning I went out to the porch to check on him and his sister Zip, who was still a caterpillar.
“Zap’s still a chrysalis and Zip’s still a caterpillar!” I called to my partner for the third or fourth day in a row. I went inside and had a quick breakfast. Well, wouldn’t you know it, in the 30 minutes I took to sit down and eat, little Zappy made his debut as a butterfly…and something had gone wrong.
I passed by the door to the porch as I brought my breakfast plate out to the kitchen, and glanced out to see a mess of bright orange-and-black wings and flailing legs at the bottom of the jar - Zap had fallen from his suspended chrysalis shell, landed on his back in the moisture from his emergence, and was stuck. When I hurriedly, but carefully, lent my finger for his tarsi (feet) to grip and pulled him up, small pieces of those gorgeous, delicate wings tore off and stuck to the glass.
Guilt immediately washed over me - if I hadn’t brought him inside, if I hadn’t set him up in that jar, this would not have happened. I told myself I was keeping Zap and Zip to ensure a safe transformation and enjoy the magic of the process before sending them out into the world, and I instead contributed to this mangling. Like I said, it was selfish and it sealed his fate.
Zap’s damaged wings were still crumpled and I hoped there was still time to get him in position to pump fluid into them and allow them to fully unfurl. But it was too late. That short window had closed and, my little friend would never fly.
I resolved to give him the best life possible anyway.
Part two of The Life of Zap is already available for your enjoyment. Please subscribe for bonus content like extra photos and videos related to each post. Paid subscribers get access to more perks like extra articles and discounts on merchandise!