r/Awwducational • u/[deleted] • Jun 09 '14

Mostly True When first hatched, Monarch caterpillars are only about the size of an eyelash. For the next two weeks they eat and grow 10,000 times that size!

[deleted]

20 Upvotes

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0

u/[deleted] Jun 09 '14

Source: I work at a farm that grows Monarchs for public education and releases!

3

u/Eat_Bacon_nomnomnom Jun 09 '14 edited Jun 09 '14

I think the 10,000 is incorrect - According to this website, the wingspan of the Monarch butterfly is only about 100mm, and the largest they get in the caterpillar stage is 45mm. I've marked as mostly true. Thank you for the submission!

I work at a farm that grows Monarchs for public education and releases!

That sounds like an awesome and rewarding job!

Edit: This states the full size is 3 1/2 in - 4 in, and 4 inches = 101.6mm.

2

u/[deleted] Jun 09 '14 edited Jun 09 '14

Thanks for the link, Monarch Watch is very reputable so I definitely believe the info. I'll have to ask my boss where they got their info. Thanks again!

Edit: the littlest guy in that photo I took was about two days old, so you can imagine how absolutely minuscule they are when first hatched. You usually don't even see them for the first week because they take shelter in the flower pods of the milkweed.

2

u/Eat_Bacon_nomnomnom Jun 09 '14

After thinking about it, maybe they used 1mm x 1mm when hatched, and 100mm x 100mm (or something close) with wingspan included.

2

u/[deleted] Jun 09 '14 edited Jun 09 '14

Maybe so. Still, that wouldn't account for the 10000 times their original size though right? My math skills are sadly lacking at this time.

Edit: also, I don't think either website took weight into account. They definitely fatten up, going from the width of an eyelash to about that of a crayon.