00:00Float like a butterfly. We all wish we could. These pretty little insects do so
00:07much good. Loved by flowers and humans alike, this is the story of a butterfly's
00:14life. Once upon a time, Margaret found a hungry caterpillar in her parsley patch.
00:26She raised it up into a butterfly in her kitchen and knew she had found her
00:30passion. Today, her love of nature and metamorphosis has crowned her the title
00:37of the Butterfly Lady of Fire Island. Her main mission in life is to make more
00:43butterflies, one egg at a time. Each day, she combs the milkweed, searching for and
00:52gathering eggs. In the safety of her kitchen, the egg and its host plant are
00:58placed in a jar of water. Each jar is carefully labeled, tracking the number of
01:04eggs, the date harvested, and the due date. That is a lot of butterfly birthdays.
01:11Inside these tiny little eggs, even tinier larvae are nourished by a yolk until
01:17they're ready to hatch. While they start small, caterpillars go through several
01:21stages or instars. As they get bigger and go through each stage, they shed their skin,
01:27revealing their special markings. Isn't that cute? Throughout all of these stages,
01:33caterpillars have one purpose. To eat and eat and eat. And while it's a well-known fact that
01:41caterpillars are hungry, they are also picky eaters. Differing species like
01:46different leaves. And this guy, the black swallowtail, is partial to parsley. Organic
01:52only, please. While another well-known caterpillar, the monarch, prefers milkweed.
01:58Over the course of its juvenile life, caterpillars increase their body mass by as
02:02much as 1,000 times or more. And of all that growing weren't enough, caterpillars also have
02:08to store enough protein for after they become an adult butterfly, which is why this little
02:13guy is still eating. After nearly two weeks of eating, the fully grown caterpillar is on
02:22a mission to find the perfect place to attach itself and shed its skin one final time. At
02:29Margaret's house, it means it's time to move them into a special box. The caterpillar attaches
02:36itself to a twig, where it will shed its skin one last time to become a chrysalis.
02:47Inside the still form of a chrysalis, a complete transformation is taking place in a process
02:53called metamorphosis. Scientists have recently discovered a few special cells called imaginal
03:00discs. It's these discs that form into beaks, legs, and of course, wings.
03:26When a butterfly first emerges from the chrysalis, its wings are folded against its body. As it gets
03:33used to its surroundings, blood is pumped into the wings, allowing them to expand and ultimately fly.
03:47Once the butterflies can fly, Margaret bids them goodbye. They live their short lives in the wind.
03:54They live their nied!! The more eggs that Margaret can save, the more butterflies that are made.
03:59it.
