Progress Report on Lauren's Caterpillar Refugees

Check out this website all about the
 monarch butterfly in New Zealand. 

It has lots of valuable information, interesting facts, and ideas about how to care for the monarch butterfly and caterpillars.

Lauren rescued some of our very hungry caterpillars and took them home to her caterpillar-less swan plant. They have obviously settled quickly and are busily eating their way through their new homes. 

Here are some photos Lauren took of her happily relocated caterpillars. 

This photo gives an excellent close-up of the caterpillar's 3 pairs of legs and its prolegs. Great photo, Lauren.

One of Lauren's caterpillars is ready to turn into a chrysalis.

Other good news:

- We were given three healthy leafy swan plants in pots by a parent from Mrs Scott's room. Danny, DC and Lauren planted these in Huia 2's half of our garden plot - which we now want to develop as a bit of a waste land - with butterfly-friendly plants. (Sorry, Mrs Fowler, but it's for a good cause.) 

- We have given away lots of caterpillars to people with  vacant  swan vacant plants at home.

- We found new seedlings of swan plants growing in Huia 2's half of the garden.

- Many of the fatter and larger caterpillars, which we thought were going to starve, have turned into chrysalises. 

- Our relocated caterpillars are making good progress.

Here are some photos of our caterpillar rescue and relocation: 

Lauren, DC and Danny found some space in Huia 2's half our our garden plot. They planted one of the donated swan plants there.

Some caterpillars had already found some self-sown swan plant seedlings. I wonder if this swan plant will ever get a chance to grow full size ...

This swan plant is planted a bit close to the olive tree- but the caterpillars will feel at home around all the chrysalis-like olives on the tree at the moment. We could only plant the swan plants in spaces we could reach without standing on any of the other caterpillar-bearing seedlings we found in this garden.

Lauren watering her newly planted swan plant.

Look very carefully and you can find three desperate caterpillars looking for food. They do not like to eat rosemary and settled very quickly into eating again when they were put on a swan plant.

Danny relocating the caterpillars - very carefully. We usually do it with a leaf but this little guy would not cling to it and curled up, so Danny did it very gently by hand. How many caterpillars can you count here. Do you think there will be enough food for them? What could we do?

We tend to talk to the caterpillars and encourage them to hang on carefully. It seems to be working.

Danny and DC take care not to tread on any caterpillars which we found crawling along the clover and ground level swan plant seedlings.

Ground level caterpillars. We had to be very careful not to stand on them.

I wonder where this little guy is going? Which end do you think is which?

Check out the previous blog to  find out what these two chrysalises looked like the day before.

Desperate Measures for Hungry Caterpillars

Can you find two caterpillars on this swan plant stalk? They have eaten all the leaves and are now very hungry.

It's getting very overcrowded in our garden  and the caterpillars are looking for new food.  They don't eat this plant. Can you find four caterpillars - including one which is turning into a chrysalis? 

Mrs Bradshaw brought us some pumpkin because larger caterpillars will eat this if there is nothing else available. This caterpillar was very hungry. Look how much it has eaten in less than one and a half hours. Clue: look at the right side of the pumpkin. 

Can you see how much the caterpillar ate?

Fortunately, some families have swan plants at home with no caterpillars so they are taking some of our refugees.

Meanwhile, DC has been monitoring one of our chrysalises which had turned very dark brown, and he could see the butterfly wings inside the case. He checked it every few minutes this afternoon - but it didn't hatch until just after  he went home this afternoon. Here is your newly hatched butterfly, DC. Do you think it's male or female?

DC's newly hatched butterfly.

Here's another caterpillar on its way to a new home. If you look very closely, you will see some newly laid eggs on the brown leaf. There were no more swan plant leaves for the butterfly to lay her eggs on.

Oh no! Look what is lurking in our caterpillar garden!

Catching up on the Caterpillars

Three caterpillars all after the same remaining leaf on the swan plant. Can you see the rain drops on the closest caterpillar?

There are a lot of caterpillars and not a lot of swan plants left. They have eaten everything over the weekend. How many caterpillars can you count?

Caterpillar on the move.

Ever wondered what the undercarriage of a caterpillar looked like? Ever wondered how they got from one leaf to another  so quickly? Which end is the head and how can you tell?

One chrysalis, one on the way, and one caterpillar looking for somewhere to start its own chrysalis.

Can you work out which end is the head and which is the rear end? Clue: It only has 3 pairs of legs and the rest are 'prolegs' or claws help it hold onto the plant.

Caterpillar close up.

This caterpillar turned into a chrysalis since yesterday. Check back to see if you can find where it was hanging. Can you see that it has left is moulted skin outside the chysalis?

Can you see the three sets of legs and the prolegs?

Can you see how many swan plant stalks there are? Check back to previous blogs to see how much the caterpillars have eaten over the weekend.

This shows a successful hatching into a butterfly over the weekend.

A caterpillar in the process of changing into a chrysalis. We rescued this when it came off its leaf and we found it lying on the ground.

It was holding onto the leaf by a very fine thread. We got very excited watching the caterpillar change into its chrysalis during our lunchtime.

And..this is what happens when the chrysalis falls off the very fine thread, and lands on a computer charger. We learned that a chrysalis's body fluids are green and dark orange.

Our Garden Before and After the Weekend.

When we left school on Friday, there were lots of caterpillars in a forest of small swan plants. There seemed to be plenty of food for the caterpillars. Some were getting fat and we knew they were soon ready to turn into a chrysalises. We are already watching one chrysalis preparing itself to turn into a butterfly.

Look carefully. Can you find two caterpillars?

Holes in the wall can be quite useful.

Can you find the chrysalis, and at least one caterpillar?

A newly hatched butterfly.

Taking lots of photographs.

Monday morning. Look what's happened to all our swan plants. How many caterpillars can you see?

Can you find 3 caterpillars? What will happen next?

A caterpillar has found a sheltered spot to turn into a chrysalis.

Can you see the chrysalis?

Can you find a chrysalis, a caterpillar getting ready to turn into a chrysalis, and a caterpillar on the ground?

This caterpillar has found a sheltered place to turn into a chrysalis.

This caterpillar is on a poppy plant which had fallen over on the ground.

Can you find two caterpillars turning into chysalises?

This caterpillar may be looking for a sheltered spot to makes its chrysalis.

Do you know that caterpillars grow to 2,700 times the size of their hatching size, before they turn into a chysalis?

Monopoly Day 14th March

Here is a video of Monopoly Day 
by Karnjeet and Kyran 


Our school held a "Monopoly Day" on Wednesday to celebrate the anniversary of the board game Monopoly. Students and teachers dressed up as characters or features of the board game.