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How Does A Caterpillar Turn Into a Butterfly?

Scientific American - Posted: August 10th, 2012, 8:00am EDT

pAs children, many of us learn about the wondrous process by which a caterpillar morphs into a butterfly. The story usually begins with a very hungry caterpillar hatching from an egg. The caterpillar, or what is more scientifically termed a larva, stuffs itself with leaves, growing plumper and longer through a series of molts in which it sheds its skin. One day, the caterpillar stops eating, hangs upside down from a twig or leaf and spins itself a silky cocoon or molts into a shiny chrysalis. Within its protective casing, the caterpillar radically transforms its body, eventually emerging as a butterfly or moth. a href=http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=caterpillar-butterfly-metamorphosis-explainer[More]/a

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