The highly poisonous milkweed has set traps on its own blades. And the surviving emperor butterfly larvae are about to embark on their revenge!
After nearly two weeks of larval development, they grow to more than 3,000 times their size. At this time, a small piece of leaf cannot satisfy their appetite at all. The larvae climb to the roots of the veins and bite off the venom tubes of the milkweeds. Immediately afterwards, they climbed onto the various branches of the milkweed and bit off all of them. At this point, the horseweed was completely cut off, and there was no means of resistance but to let it be slaughtered. Today's larvae are not only resistant to the venom of the milkweeds, but can even absorb it into their bodies as their secret weapon in the future. While other caterpillars are hiding and hiding, the emperor butterfly larvae are swaggering and don't care about any birds and animals. Because they are poisonous in their bodies, except for sparrows, there are basically no predators who can't think of eating these poisonous insects. But they also have fears, and that is fire ants, whose saliva contains a special nitrase enzyme that effectively breaks down their toxins. Therefore, after surviving the crisis, these larvae will begin to give birth to the most important moments.
I saw the larva hang itself upside down and shed its skin from its head. Although the chrysalis is very tender after molting, its appearance eventually becomes very hard as the air oxidizes and develops itself. After 12 days of decomposition and deformation, the larva breaks out of the cocoon and becomes a butterfly, which constantly wriggles its body and tries its best to squeeze out the butterfly chrysalis. Finally, the monarch butterfly has completed its rebirth. At this time, he slowly spread his wings, gradually adapting to his new body. Only 10 percent of the larvae reach this stage. Most of the rest died either from the poison of the milkweeds, or from the hunt of predators.
