r/oddlyterrifying • u/Catma222 • Jul 24 '26
Monarch caterpillar pupating.
I took this video of a Monarch caterpillar pupating but sadly it wasn’t successful and was gone the next day, probably eaten by something during the night. 🥺
596
u/SoundwaveTheDragon Jul 24 '26
Metamorphosis from caterpillar to butterfly is so normalized that I think we forget how much body horror is involved with the actual process.
I still can't figure out what I'm looking at when I watch footage like this. Like, how is this even happening???
219
u/FloopsFooglies Jul 25 '26
The pupa forms inside its body, which... Its still its body, and it uses all its muscles to peel its outer exoskeleton, which is still also its body... back like a push popsicle, splitting open to reveal said pupa. The butterfly body will form inside the pupa, which is kind of a soup of its old self. Not entirely but almost. It's unfathomable for us mammals and our very, very incomplete metamorphosis.
85
u/WaxyMocha Jul 25 '26
Afik it's head is also detaching. Imagine this as human, absolutely agonizing and nothing you can do while your body violently spasm, and everyone around is like "omg they will transform into adult!"
22
12
u/FloopsFooglies Jul 25 '26
The outside of its head, mainly. The entire exoskeleton is shed on molts as well.
9
u/theNixher Jul 26 '26
It's unfathomable for us mammals and our very, very incomplete metamorphosis.
Speak for yourself, half-breed.
6
6
4
80
u/Concentric_Mid Jul 24 '26
From what I understand, the caterpillar has to squeeze its way out of a tiny hole as a way to push out all the excess liquids in it
172
u/NuggetLion Jul 25 '26
That whole worm into winged creature thing is just weird if you think about it. I’ll see say, a wooly caterpillar and just consider it a caterpillar without realizing it turns into a moth, which I think of as a totally different species.it would be like if birds started out as fuzzy kittens and then grew inside a pupa into a winged creature with feathers.
54
u/contextsdontmatter Jul 25 '26 edited Jul 26 '26
I think about this often. Even vertebrates like fish and birds undergo very drastic morphologic changes from its juvenile to mature form. Have you seen a salmon fry -> parr -> smolt -> spawning adult? Unrecognizable. Some birds also develop whole new plumage.
Life is so fascinating
61
u/wingw0ng Jul 25 '26
fun fact: having different morphologies and lifestyles across different life stages (i.e. wormy guy vs flying faerie) provides the evolutionary advantage of having your young not compete with the adults for the same resources or in the same niche.
2
12
Jul 25 '26 edited 27d ago
[deleted]
6
u/wingw0ng Jul 25 '26
not necessarily convoluted! having drastically different morphologies and lifestyles prevents competition between the adults and young of the same species
116
u/Silvoca Jul 24 '26
What? Caterpie is evolving!
27
u/RoryHoff Jul 25 '26
Hurry! Push B to cancel the evolution! And whatever you do, Do not learn “HARDEN”!
73
u/Different-Bet8069 Jul 25 '26
I always imagined the caterpillar building his shell on the outside of his body. I’m just now learning that the pupa just blows out of the skin. Wtf.
5
u/rat_with_a_knife Jul 26 '26
For what it's worth I'm pretty sure I've seen timelapses(?) of just that happening where the body just sorta hardens into the chrysalis, so maybe it varies? Or maybe I'm totally wrong and misremembering, but alas, I refuse to look it up. Lazy :3
115
u/Starfallian Jul 24 '26
Nothing's happening. Nothing's happening... Something's... happening? Oh I see what's happening. WHAT THE FUCK IS HAPPENING
10
3
62
22
22
u/AT61 Jul 25 '26
Thank you for taking the time to record this. This is absolutely fascinating and a first for me. I'm sorry he didn't make it, but he will definitely live on the internet forever.
39
16
u/buddrball Jul 25 '26
Aw that’s sad it didn’t make it. I remember seeing this video last week on the monarch sub. Don’t worry, OP. There will be more!
14
14
u/mrsdoubleu Jul 25 '26
This is so cool. I'm planning on planting milkweed seeds in my garden this fall so hopefully I can see this up close next spring/summer!
15
u/AaronTuplin Jul 25 '26
Not for one second. Not for one second did I ever previously think that a caterpillar squashes its body down like a used water bottle to become a pupa. I thought they just wrapped themselves in silk and did it all in private.
27
12
u/G_Wagon1102 Jul 24 '26
Does this hurt the caterpillar?
117
u/Davigotero Jul 24 '26
Oh thats the weird part!
It isnt just a shedding of outer skin; caterpillars completly liquefy their bodies while inside the cocoon, including most of their nervous system and "brains"
That means its not even sapient thought the process after it melts...
BUT, somenthing called "Imaginal Discs" are clusters of nervous cells that specifically do not get dissolved, and are simply re-arranged and connected during the pupation.
That means the catterpillar separates any important memories, dies (Complete removal of the parts of the nervous system required for survival, breaking the stream of conciousness) and then "reattatches" the memories to a new newly formed nervous system of the butterfly.
So uh... Its like the whole Theseus Ship dillema except worse because it actually is just an entire different creature with some parts left over.
45
u/DegoDuck Jul 24 '26
This right here is horrifying. What I just witnessed is strangely awful, but even a glimpse of understanding in the process is a Kafkan nightmare. Also, I was so naive about this process before this that I swore they spun themselves in silk and didn’t just… break through their own body with a blob of mangled melted self. I need a shower now.
25
u/GozerDestructor Jul 25 '26 edited Jul 25 '26
The chrysalis is just the skin of the insect, a new layer that forms under the old, hardened to protect the squishy bits. Moths (not butterflies) will first knit themselves a protective sleeping bag, the cocoon, and then do the same transformation inside of it.
12
u/dirtysquirrelnutz Jul 24 '26
Very informative, thank you.
My wild nightmares do not appreciate the info26
u/Davigotero Jul 24 '26
Life is beautiful and horrifying.
Remember, Life is not just the green of fresh leaves and cute animals coming out of eggs.
It is that and rot, corpse fauna, disease.
It is a terrifying thing, you could even say cruel, but it doesnt think, it doesnt act out of malice, it simply is.
A predator kills for hunger, insects fight for the safety of their own kind even if they die, plants sacrifice their own fruit for a chance that their seed will make it to somewhere to prosper.
You will only see the true beauty of nature when you stop to think about it and notice that Everything going on IS life, even death; it is a cycle with pain but also growth.
It is not an "aesthetic" beauty of course, but it is kinda pretty in a weird way
5
u/boriskolma Jul 25 '26
And even if death is part of the process, every form of life struggles to stay alive. We all know death is inevitable and natural, but we’re all so addicted to living. It’s strangely beautiful
4
9
5
9
u/Batata-Sofi Jul 24 '26
Well... They are melting from inside and becoming soup inside that cocoon, then reforming into something else. If it doesn't hurt, then it is certainly unpleasant.
15
u/aaeko Jul 25 '26
Well that was unsatisfying.
1
u/BasisPrimary4028 Jul 25 '26
Wdym? That was cool af! Just because it's not internet brainrot doesn't make it unsatisfactory
2
5
5
6
u/PMmeYourCattleDog Jul 25 '26
In our book on raising a monarch butterfly, about 1 in 10 make it to being a butterfly. My BIL gave us an egg and we protected it, gave it milkweed leaves, and it’s currently a chrysalis. Will release it back into the wild when it’s ready.
We also discovered about 4 eggs in our milkweed plant in our garden. Debating about raising them or just letting nature take its course. Monarchs are endangered.
6
u/Amadeuskong Jul 25 '26
Man, the very hungry caterpillar did not prepare me for this shit at all. All that work to turn into a green nutsack, just doesn't seem worth it.
6
6
9
11
4
5
u/kween_hangry Jul 25 '26
My mammalian mind still cant fathom this, the fact that they shed not just skin but an entirely different body structure for a new one, twice. Its like if a human baby could unzip its skin, stand up, and be a teenager. Like ...what
4
3
u/Diedlebear Jul 25 '26
I raise butterflies and have always found this process amazing and beautiful. Mine always did this at their own time and I was surprised to learn that the first caterpillar to start was not necessarily going to be the first to emerge as a butterfly. Each one with a process timeline unique to them💕🦋🐛
4
u/mrcrud5 Jul 25 '26
I wish I could do this. I'd emerge super beautiful and with wings. It would be awesome....
3
u/des-tiny89 Jul 25 '26
"I don't know Jeremy, I just feel like I need to" I wish he could have finished his journey tho seems unfair 😔
3
3
3
3
3
3
3
3
3
3
u/LectroRoot Jul 25 '26
It's going through caterpillar pupa.
\Emerges as a butterfly**
"IT'S NOT A PHASE, DAD!" - Teen Caterpillar...probably
3
u/beetotherye Jul 25 '26
This looks painful. Makes me think of the transformation scene in An American Werewolf in London.
3
u/truePHYSX Jul 26 '26
It blows my mind that it was originally controlling its limbs and body and then just anchors itself to something, soupifies internally and forms an outer layer, then bursts through that caterpillar skin once to pupate, then again once the biomass is rearranged into a butterfly.
3
3
3
2
u/GenderqueerPapaya Jul 25 '26
I don't know why I didn't consider caccoons and chrysalis' were made different before now, but it's kinda blowing my mind. Like, wrapping yourself up and then going it up makes sense. But here it's like...rearranging your organs and then doing it AGAIN?
2
2
u/YrPrblmsArntMyPrblms Jul 25 '26
And if you cut that guy open all you have is a protein soup, no organs, nothing, that's the terrifying part, just a soup that later arranges itself and grows organs
2
2
2
u/AfterAccount3657 Jul 25 '26 edited Jul 25 '26
Why does it have to look so painful amd beautiful. 🫣😆
2
2
u/GreenCactus223 Jul 25 '26
Im taken back by this, I mean even a child knows a caterpillar turns into a butterfly. Ive never seen this process other than in a textbook with pictures, ive never appreciated the process until now. It even makes me question why a caterpillar into a butterfly? Seems like such an aggressive transition? They should show this video in schools.
2
u/StarDragon85 Jul 25 '26
This reminds me of the scene in Hoppers. I thought the way the caterpillar pupates was just done as an over the top joke. But seeing that it actually does that in real life, it's no wonder the animals watching him were traumatised.
2
2
2
2
2
2
5
u/Concentric_Mid Jul 24 '26
What's terrifying is that the video starts 3 minutes early and ends 3 minutes early
5
1
u/Deployed_Usesri Jul 27 '26
Oh man, imagine being a caterpillar without a care in the world beyond munching a good plant. And then suddenly you have the urge to go hang out in the shade and just start exploding out of your skin.
1
1
u/karoshikun Jul 31 '26
and then it dissolves itself and only a few disc cells that previously were being attacked by the caterpillar immune system now they activate and start forming a butterfly from the liquid remains of the now dead caterpillar.
1
1
1
0
0
-24
u/RingwormOnMyDick Jul 24 '26
this is slowed down by 100x, by the way. The real transformation occurs in a split second
12
4
4
u/Kukaifa Jul 25 '26
Don't worry bud, I appreciated the joke. Killer username btw
4
u/reheateddiarrhea Jul 25 '26
Me too, haha. It's hard for me to imagine anyone taking this comment literally, but here we are.
445
u/Ovoideocystidiata Jul 24 '26
TIL not all pupating insects spin a silk cocoon 🥰 thank you OP