Western Tiger Swallowtail Caterpillar. Photo by J.B. Tatum<\/figcaption><\/figure>\nThe caterpillar of the Western Tiger Swallowtail actually resembles bird droppings when they first emerge.\u00a0 They will molt five times and as they molt they turn to a bright green colour with a pair of yellow eye-spots.\u00a0 It is important that they turn green as it helps camouflage them with their food, leaves.\u00a0 During the summer months the caterpillars can pupate into butterflies 15 days after they emerge from the eggs. If the eggs are laid in the fall though then the butterfly is going to have to wait until spring before getting to stretch their tiger wings.\u00a0 If they over-winter in the pupae stage they will turn to a brown colour and simply look like a piece of wood.\u00a0 Again, this is an excellent camouflage strategy. I find it fascinating how they have developed this mechanism for camouflage over the years.<\/p>\n
Well that does it for me today folks.\u00a0 Enjoy your weekend!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
I can’t believe it is the end of another exciting and fun filled week of animal facts.\u00a0 We are going to end it with a common butterfly that can be found throughout Western North America.\u00a0 The Western Tiger Swallowtail most likely gets the “Tiger” part of its name since it has a similar appearance as a tiger (sort of).\u00a0 Don’t get me wrong, I highly doubt anyone would mistake this butterfly for a tiger. The Western Tiger Swallowtail tends to hang out close to water, along canyons and even in our beloved city parks.\u00a0 Although the adult version of this <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2634,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[17,4024],"tags":[348,923,127,922,4025,921,920],"yoast_head":"\n
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<\/a>