We all know the beginning and end of the story of breaking the cocoon into a butterfly, an earthworm-like bug somehow turned into Cinderella at the ball. This is a realistic fairy tale. But have you ever wondered what happened in the middle of this transition? Well, in fact, the process is a little disgusting, the caterpillar is hiding in the cocoon, and strange things are happening on the beautiful Cinderella.
There are 180,000 species of magical caterpillars, ranging in size from 0.8 mm to 14 cm long, and they all have magical secrets that can transform into gorgeous moths or beautiful butterflies. At the Florida Museum of Natural History, Dr. Andres Ulla uses cutting-edge technology to peek inside a caterpillar cocoon. To see how they deform, using a caterpillar scanner, X-rays can see the shape of its internal and external organs, spine and legs. The muscles shown are red, the white ones are the respiratory tract and blood vessels, and the blue ones are the organs. These images reveal something amazing. In the cocoon, most of the caterpillar's body is a huge stomach. And most of the inside of the caterpillar's body is occupied by intestines. This is because the caterpillar's only goal in life is to obtain the energy needed to transform.
This meant he was going to eat like crazy, and after a few weeks, the hungry caterpillars could gain ten thousand times more weight. If an adult eats so much. He would be as fat as four Statues of Liberty.
Think about what a perfect feeding machine looks like, caterpillars are like that, the problem is that eating too much makes this chubby bug an ideal snack for predators. So in order to live long enough and eat enough, most are equipped with defense systems, such as incredible camouflage, hundreds of sharp stingers, all deliberately eating poisonous plants, they make their entire body poisonous, with colored markings to promote this danger.
When the caterpillar reaches this stage, its fat reserves are sufficient for metamorphosis, which triggers a molt, and the soft pupae in the early molting period harden quickly. Over the next 24 hours, the inside of the pupae transforms from pupae to adult, and now, the caterpillar hides in the chrysalis, knowing that it is about to go to the butterfly ball, but unfortunately there is no fairy sister to help. And through the scan of the chrysalis, it can be seen that the butterfly fairy tale has taken a disgusting turn here. In the pupae, the caterpillar uses a unique enzyme to dissolve its own tissues, organs, skin, and even its own brain, which are digested and turned into a caterpillar soup. But this soup is very strong, there is a piece of soup in it, and this piece of thing is the place where decay becomes magic.
In a structure called an adult dish, DNA hides caterpillar genes and turns on butterfly genes. Using protein-rich caterpillar soup as a building material, the adult disc creates cells that magically form the butterfly's legs and eyes. The brain and wings, then the organs begin to grow and reshape, and eventually the adult is ready.
The whole process of deformation takes two to four weeks, and then, out of the pupae, a completely different creature emerges. The chewing mandible that the caterpillar uses to eat leaves is now turned into a toothless tube sucking nectar, and its fat belly has become a slender torso with strong muscles ready to fly. Of course, the most important thing is the iconic wings, and now she is only close to a handsome butterfly prince.