DESCRIPTION: At the tip of my index finger is a one day old Monarch Butterfly Caterpillar hatchling (compare to screen mesh size). When outdoors, they chew out of their egg sacks about three days after laying and proceed to eat on the underside of the leaf on which they're born. At this size, it takes a long time to eat a single leaf. But often they'll migrate to a lower leaf, suggesting that "nature" is managing milkweed resources by keeping upper leaves intact for future egg laying by passing Monarch Butterflies.

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