Where to find caterpillars in singapore

Which is a shame, as there is much more to the little crawlers than first meets the eye. Finding caterpillars makes a fun outdoor activity and watching their amazing transformation into butterflies is a great science lesson for kids.

On our last kids activity, the backyard safari , we came across caterpillars and gently brought them inside. We put ours in a large plastic jar, with a bunch of leaves to eat, and covered the jar with cling wrap punctured with holes.

Taking the caterpillars indoors keeps them safe from predators, and allows them to develop in peace. Just stay away from the hairy ones, some of which have poisonous stings.

First, we saw our little brown hairy caterpillars turn into green, shiny ones — a surprise as I thought the only transformation would occur when they got wings. Many caterpillar species go through several stages called instars , in which they can look completely different.

Just like Eric Carle says, they ate and got bigger, and fatter, until one day they sat still on a branch. The day after, they pupated and became a chrysalis. Now, we needed patience, for about two weeks. One morning, a surprise awaited us: our own winged beauties! British Wildlife. Weiter zu British Wildlife. Conservation Land Management. Weiter zu Conservation Land Management. Publisher: National Parks Board Singapore. Click to have a closer look. About this book Related titles. Images Additional images.

About this book The authors of this colourfully illustrated softback are drawing attention to Singapore's butterfly caterpillars. Customer Reviews Review this book.

I spoke of the various instars that a caterpillar has to grow into before it pupates. I pointed out examples of two instars of the Lime Butterfly, with one cat looking bigger and quite different from its earlier instar.

Cats grow rather quickly. For example, the Lime Butterfly which feeds on the leaves of the lime plant, metamorphosises from egg to caterpillar to pupa to butterfly in just 23 to 27 days. After half an hour of admiring the caterpillars, we split into two groups to take turns exploring two parts of Bishan-AMK park with Auntie Amy leading the other party.

Our game of Butterfly Bingo encouraged kids to look for their own butterflies. Here, we played the game Butterfly Bingo. Kids were given a sheet of paper with photos of nine common butterflies arranged in a grid. Spotting a particular butterfly species allows one to cross it out.

After the butterfly ecloses, or emerges from the pupa, it will take around two hours to be active. A large tank, in this case, would provide sufficient space for a butterfly to spread its wings soon after emerging from its pupa. And finally, when the butterfly has eclosed, remember to release it back in the area where you first found the eggs or caterpillars.

This list of butterflies and host plants will help you get started on your DIY butterfly breeding adventure!

Butterfly species. Host plant. Cethosia cyane Leopard Lacewing. Doleschallia bisaltide bisaltide Autumn Leaf. Pachliopta aristolochiae asteris Common Rose. Papilio demoleus malayanus Lime Butterfly. Danaus chrysippus chrysippus Plain Tiger.