When born, baby caterpillars are smaller than a grain of rice. In their microscopic world, even the tiniest obstacles prove to be a challenge.
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Sex, Lies and Butterflies
TRANSCRIPT
- A painted lady has her own offspring to create and lays dozens of tiny eggs of a surprising blue.
(soft piano music) Each egg is attached to a leaf with a special glue that keeps it in place at any angle.
They are jewel-like and almost microscopically small.
She clusters them on leaves the babies will be able to eat when they hatch.
And that's the end of her motherly duties.
But in just five days, a little caterpillar begins to break out of its shell.
The eggs were only the size of a pinhead.
The baby caterpillars are smaller than a grain of rice.
Even the plant hairs sprouting from the leaf are giant obstacles for them.
Almost nothing about this little caterpillar resembles its parents.
With eight pairs of legs, a black spiky suit, and no wings at all, it's an entirely different animal.
