I used to think that caterpillars just curled up and went to sleep, and the cocoon shell formed naturally. While the truth is a bit disturbing, it's also pretty interesting.

Apparently, the innards completely liquify when undergoing metamorphosis. The caterpillar is in a way digesting itself and making use of the resulting soup. However -- and here's the interesting thing: the butterfly can remember behaviour that the caterpillar had learned!

Congratulations! Your Caterpie evolved to Metapod!

That point of attachment is pretty strong with all the movements

It looks absolutely painful. Sometimes I'm glad that I'm a human being.

intriguing but highly disturbing

Something about that was deeply unsettling.

I just had my monarch butterfly emerge from it's chrysalis today! Yay, one more butterfly for the world. 😃 The odds of the eggs hatching and becoming a new butterfly is dismal even with human assistance.

"Will it be a girl or a boy?" I think it's gonna be a butterfly.

I saw a caterpillar about a week ago on the edge of my window. I thought about taking him down on the ground again, but decided to leave him. I open up my window the next day to find a chrysalis!! Its been there for a week and Im eager to see if I can catch it coming out

I just saw this happen right before my eyes last night!!!!! So amazing.....really truly. Almost cried!!

My dad brought in two of these guys only 3 days ago, we bring them fresh milkweed everyday home, and one of them just started this process! so cool.

I never cared or wondered how they did this, until now. Pretty cool. Thanks for the video

3:20 I didn’t know that caterpillars heads fall off or whatever it is

This is so beautifully amazing. I have two caterpillars in a container who we found had eaten all the leaves from the one and only small milkweed in the yard (note: if they are a few days from chrysalis and milkweed is gone they will eat sliced raw pumpkin). One is just now attaching to the roof of the container to chrysalis. This has me excited to make an effort to have lots more milkweed growing in the yard.

Not how I expected it to form. I always thought they covered themselves. Fascinating

Amazing that the antenna never seem to die until the very end.

I left a comment on this video 3 years ago. I have raised these little guys my whole life, and just now saw one of my little friends make his cocoon very recently. I actually got 2 late bloomers a few days ago, and one of them is making his as we speak. I’m going to try to catch it on video, and show my family and friends the fascinating process these dudes go trough!

I always thought they spun a cocoon around them from silk! That's super cool but creepy! It's like in a science fiction movie where an alien is hatching! That's weird that it looks like a chrysalis is inside the bug thing or whatever.

The most perfect video for a jump scare

This was looks like when a Caterpie evolves into a Metapod

3:20 The old skin is now facing front

My first caterpillar from the bunch I'm rearing just transformed into a chrysalis today! I'm such a proud mom! 😁

I found this video after being surprised at the level of activity in my newly forming chrystalite. Yesterday it just hung in a J shape and twtched a little bit. Now its encased and twiching like it's possessed. Fascinating!

I raised them when I was in kindergarten. I saw one on the roof of the terrarium and when I turned around for a few seconds, I heard my teacher give a shriek. I quickly turned around and saw a newly for chrysalis where the caterpillar once was.

When your sister has suddenly taken up Lepidoptery, you find this informative and reassuring. Rather than having to listen to, "Why won't they pupate?"

I fell unconscious watching this catiplier skin rip off

It's kinda scary knowing that right now it's liquifying itself.

I thought they built around their caterpillar form. Not drop their skin off like dirty clothes after a long day at work 😂

My bright orange Butterfly Weed shrub has been covered with Monarch caterpillars in all stages and there is a perfectly formed chrysalis on the purple Butterfly Bush next to it. I have been 'tracking' one of the full sized caterpillars, hoping to witness this amazing transformation, not knowing how it occurs. So glad to see this video because the chances of me seeing this little guy at just the right moment are pretty slim.

Metapod in real life woulve been a better title fr

Never in a million years would I have guessed this is how it turned into a chrysalis

Why does no one show clear to the end of the formation of the top part of the chrysalis? I've watched dozens of these videos and they all skip the last part.

I missed it again 😂 I turn my back for a few minutes! 🐛🦋

Thanks for the video!Hey,I like that!Cold cuts! No Bologna,just science!LOL!

I wish you had shown the entire bit at the end where it assumes its final shape. I have three chrysalis in my enclosure and a 4th caterpillar is attaching to the roof right now, but I will miss this metamorphosis again. But thanks . Fascinating.

Out of 30 monarch eggs to caterpillars but lost all but 10 made it to chrysalis even with our abundance of milkweed. Of the 20 other caterpillars that didn’t make it, 2 died trying to form chrysalises. The other 18 got sick and died either on the plant or crawled away to spin silk and died trying during their final instar. We isolated 10 chrysalises on our screened in porch. Of those 8 eclosed successfully (3 fell off upon emergence but each of those times, I was there to lend a finger for it to grasp to right itself and then assist it to a place to hang straight). The other 5 had no issues. One chrysalis turned black and dried up and died. Our 10th chrysalis turned clear like the others and started to eclose but died before (s)he could get his head all the way out. We cried with each loss of caterpillar or chrysalis. But mostly felt good about providing them with milkweed the increased chance to succeed. In the wild, as little as 3% (maybe less?)of monarch eggs laid make it to a monarch butterfly. Even with the assistance from humans, maybe 30% make it? Please Plant more milkweed and help our ecosystem. Monarchs are iconic pollinators and beautiful creatures.

Real life footage of Caterpie evolving into Metapod then Butterfree

I never get to watch the actual change. The last one I checked and an hour later he had turned into a chrysalis.

Your Pokémon caterpie is evolving into metapod!!! Nice

amazing video and amazing audio thanks!

I wonder if caterpillars are able to consciously delay the onset of this process if it's in an unsuitable or unsafe situation, or does it just happen automatically like puberty in humans.

What? Caterpie is Evolving!

Amazing footage!I did get a flashback to the 80s of what it was like to pull on pantyhose

I has one milkweed plant, and 5 of these guys ate all the leaves and died because of lack of food :(

3:15 it looks like it’s dancing lol

I always envisioned caterpillars' metamorphosis to be a bit more elegant and less...uh, unsettling.

Caterpie is evolving.

Great job on this video and the video where the butterfly emerges! Do you ever plan on creating videos for other types of caterpillars doing this same thing?

So....... I just watched a Caterpillar undressing without its permission....

I had no idea this is actually how the chrysalis is formed. I'm so surprised!

3:21 im sorry did the head just fly off

It must be very hard It looks like it's about to give birth to it's kidney

"gotta fit. Gotta fit...."

The cocoon was dancing

so cool! Thanks for posting!

my friend lied to me and told me they were white and very hairy. worst mistake of my life.

What I can’t find answer to is why at first you can see beginnings of wings, head, legs and antenna and then in the end it’s all smooth. And if it liquids itself, why is all that there at first! So after it sheds the caterpillar skin, does it secrete a clear substance that eventually hardens and smooths out? Because what first is under there is not what you see in the finished product. Watched I close myself 4 times now. At the very beginning you can see exactly what it looks like before it emerges as butterfly but in bright green.

Is he shedding?

Okay. But you didn't show it growing the chrysalis. You just faded out.

wow ! this situation looks like pokemon evolution. Nice video.

That's so creepy how it wiggles around at 3:30!

This is incredible. Nature is the greatest designer.

Very confused at what I’m witnessing.

We cant get a sped up version of what happens between 3:48 and 3:50?

3:00 CLOSE UP

Eat a bunch of leaves, turn into a leaf.

You faded at 3:47, denying us a look at it becoming its final shape

I caught 8 of them but today I found a baby one and a couple of mine are in their chrysalis

I’ve watched it twice and still don’t understand what I’m seeing. Did the chrysalis come from under its skin? It just appears out of no where

They are cute

I have one too but it not yet turning to a butterfly. How many day do it turning to a butterfly?

Someone probably made this joke but Caterpie evolved into Metapod!

So cool! Nice editing too. The attachment from the caterpillar/chrysalis to the 'substrate' must be exceptionally strong. What is that made of?

Is this real-time or time lapse? It's so fast!

Why did you cut the last part? That's the part I wanted to see.

Very interesting..

Hi, I have a caterpillar that just formed a pupa but the caterpillar skin didn’t come off. Is it normal for the skin to take a while to come off? If not, could this cause a problem? Thank you.

*the Thumbnail looks like XXXTENTACION😭*

what happened to their legs and eyes?

Skipped right over the part I came here to see.... :(

Oh my gosh, I thought the caterpillar built the chyrsalis, not that it BECAME the chrysalis. However, you skip over one portion that I really wish I could see, right at 3:47. I have a caterpillar in my home and it went from caterpillar to chrysalis if 4 hours. I missed the entire thing! But I really want to see how it goes from still looking sort of like a caterpillar to looking like a chrysalis. Why did you skip that part??? This was fascinating, though!! Thx.

How does the body fit in that tiny skin layer

How long is this process???

Did the caterpillar just fell off the cocoon!?😕😕😕😕😕😕😕😕😕😕😕😕😕😕

Were those black strands its legs!?

Good dance moves

Pretty interesting how animals can do that

I'm worried. My monarch caterpillar started hanging upside down last night, but now he's looking kinda saggy and brown. I hope he's not dead!

This is very disturbing.

Nice!

Does it turn to mush then squeeze all of it into its head?

About how long does his process take?

this is fast forward right?

How long does this process take, from caterpillar to chrysalis? My sister has taken very good care of a monarch cat but it has been a J for about 6 hours now. He is getting fatter at the top but that is all, and all the posts I see make it seem like this is a minutes-long process, not hours. Help?!

That was really disturbing😳

That's danger

so the crysilis is extruded from its body?

What is the thing that fell off on minute 3:20?

Butterfly soup 😶