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let's face it butterflies get all the
glory
fluttering around with their flashy
looks but caterpillars they're more than
just an awkward adolescent phase they do
all the hard work so that one day they
can look like this as adults butterflies
really only have one job meeting they're
basically flying reproduction machines
powered by sugar water their proboscis
is made for sipping nectar but that
liquid diet doesn't give them much of
the protein they need to make eggs so
that hungry hungry caterpillar has a big
job to do it's not just eating for
itself
it's stockpiling the protein it will
need later on to make the next
generation it starts by eating its way
out of the egg
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no leftovers then it's on to the main
course these pipevine Swallowtail
caterpillars are chowing down on their
favorite and only food the pipevine for
a monarch caterpillar it's all about the
milkweed in two weeks they'll grow 20
times longer that's like a human baby
growing as tall as a three-story
building a caterpillar can't see very
well so it uses ant any to smell for
food not those big ones on top those are
for feeling around it's the tiny ones
right down there it eats and eats and
eats storing up as much protein as
possible leaves are about one-quarter
protein after packing on the pounds for
a couple of weeks this monarch
caterpillar is finally ready for the big
day it weaves a ball of silk on a branch
then it hooks onto it with its backside
and let's go
look through its skin there's something
wiggling in there
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the caterpillar pumps and pushes until
it splits open shedding all traces of
its youth including its face
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the outer skin hardens into the
chrysalis that protects the pupa inside
its stomach shrinks its giving up its
gluttonous ways when the butterfly
emerges days later it uncurls it's
brand-new proboscis to pieces called
Galia that have to be zipped together
into a single straw before the butterfly
can use it and it lets those glorious
wings unfold they'll take it to find
mates and a juicy new plant to lay its
eggs on using that stored up protein
this complete metamorphosis is called
hollow metabolic multiple lives in a
single life it takes a lot of work and
butterflies only live a few weeks but
this strategy is not as rare as you
might think
in the animal kingdom it's incredibly
common mammals like us are the weird
ones after all our face doesn't fall off
when we grow up hey it's Lauren can you
spot the chrysalis is hanging on this
branch they need that camouflage
otherwise they'd be sitting ducks for
predators are you looking for something
new try above the noise a new series
from KQED and PBS Digital Studios that
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