Monarch Caterpillars Eating a Milkweed Leaf

This video was recorded at the Dickinson County Nature Center in Spirit Lake, Iowa, where there is an ongoing monarch raising program. The program involves receiving monarch eggs, raising the caterpillars to maturity, and releasing the butterflies. The time-lapse video captures two monarch caterpillars feeding on a milkweed leaf, showcasing a key part of their life cycle and illustrates the caterpillars' role in the ecosystem as they consume plant matter. This shows how matter moves from plants to animals, an important part of nature's cycles and movement of matter among plants, animals, decomposers and the environment.

• How does a monarch caterpillar eating milkweed change the ecosystem?

• Why do you think the monarch caterpillar focuses on the milkweed plant and not other plants in its ecosystem?
• After a monarch caterpillar eats, it leaves behind its droppings. Those droppings are called “frass”. What effect do you think the frass has on the ecosystem?
• When a monarch caterpillar enters its final stage and becomes an adult, what benefit does the adult butterfly provide to the ecosystem?

Students could:

• Observe prairie plants and note the differences between milkweed and other plants to determine why they believe that monarch caterpillars choose the milkweed.
• Grow milkweed plants in the classroom and learn more about them.
• Research how frass helps the ecosystem.

• Monarch Watch: This website provides information on conservation projects as well as tagging of monarch butterflies. It also provides information on how schools can plant their own butterfly garden.
• Monarch Watch | Monarchs in Space: This website provides detailed information about a monarch butterfly space project. It includes a timeline of the project, as well as videos of the monarchs in space. Additionally, there are links to student-made websites where classes participated in the project concurrently with the space mission.
• World Wildlife Fund | Monarch Tool Kit: This toolkit has several resources for educators. It has a section on teaching about monarchs.
• PBS LearningMedia | Spot on Science: Monarchs, Milkweed, and Migration: This video focuses on migration and highlights the stages of metamorphosis up close.