Check out the monarch caterpillars that live on the milkweed by my back door. They have such pretty stripes and long antenna. You can see how this one has chewed the edge of the milkweed leaf.
This one has nearly chewed it's leaf down to the mid vein. They have antenna on both ends of their bodies, so it's hard to tell which end is the head and which is the tail.
Every day I get nervous that the chickens are going to eat them. The milkweed plants are heavy and have drooped over to the ground, so the caterpillars would be easy pickings for hungry birds. I've read about how to raise them in captivity, which some folks say is good to do because most of the wild ones don't survive to adulthood. I can't decide if I want to take on caterpillar care. Maybe all the milkweed plants I have allowed to grow will help the wild ones survive.
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