Fifth-instar Monarch caterpillars (Danaus plexippus) stop feeding and often wander away from milkweed in search of a safe pupation site—sometimes traveling up to 10 meters before forming their chrysalis.

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Monarch Butterfly Caterpillar on a Milkweed plant

We planted three milkweed plants earlier this year to see if they would grow here and attract Monarch Butterflys. Since we live in the Santa Cruz CA area and there are Monarch sanctuaries in the area we hoped that they would show up.

And they did. Now we have the caterpillars for the next generation.

With all of the chaos and nonsense surrounding us, little pleasures and successes like this make life better.

#Photography #Butterfly #MonarchButterfly #MonarchCaterpillar #Milkweed #SantaCruz