During the past few days I have read on Telescope<\/a> how the life cycle that leads a caterpillar to become a butterfly takes place<\/strong><\/p>\n The life of caterpillars, beings without eyes but with hearts and brains, is full of dangers, this is why Nature endows them with defense mechanisms: from thorny and irritating bristles to eye-like colors that scare predators, up to the ability to blend in, on the plant that hosts them. To become butterflies they need to increase their body mass by eating continuously; some increase their size up to 10,000 times in a few days, so they are forced to adapt their skin to the growth of the body, “changing” it up to five or six times, each time it reaches the limit.
\nUpon reaching the final moult, the larvae leave the host plant and look for a safe place for their metamorphosis. The chrysalis, sealed and protected in its now hardened skin, turns into the adult insect. At the end of this cycle, which can last two weeks or a whole year, the casing breaks and a butterfly comes out, which flies away as if it had done it a hundred times before.<\/p>\n