This is the egg process. The egg comes from a mother butterfly. There are about 250 to 1,500 eggs. The egg stage lasts about nine months for the longest and a few days for the shortest. The egg looks like a cactus. You can see four of them. The eggs are kept on a leaf. The egg stage ends when the egg hatches and the caterpillar comes out.

The caterpillars eat plants. The caterpillar stage lasts 1-2 months. The caterpillar eats a lot so it can grow inside its crysalis. Molting is when it sheds its skin. The caterillar's enemies are birds. When the caterpillar turns into a butterfly the stage is over.

This is the crysalis stage. The steps in making a crysalis are when the skin shrinks and splits. This is called the last molt. Then the crysalis forms under it. The caterpillars make a crysalis on a leaf or stick. Inside the crysalis cat caterpillars grow wings and antennas. The stage takes about 10 days. The stage ends when the butterfly comes out.

The butterfly lives for about 1 to 2 weeks. They must mate and lay eggs to continue the life cycle. They eat nectar from flowers. They come out from under his or her hiding place at night.