(^4)
the same way as its parents, The young turtle feeds in
but takes smaller food items.
(^2) An embryo develops
inside the buried egg,
which is abandoned by
the mother, but kept
warm by the sun.
37
◀ BUTTERFLY
Butterflies, like many insects, have two
quite different phases in their life cycle.
They hatch as soft-bodied larvae that
spend all their time eating and growing.
Then they turn into winged adults, which
do not grow and may not eat at all.
3 After struggling out
of the egg, the baby turtle
heads for the ocean.
(^5) Growing steadily as
it feeds, the turtle does
not go through any type
of metamorphosis like an
amphibian or insect.
(^1) The egg has a soft,
leathery skin that stops
it from drying out.
6 The mature adult is able
to breed, and females come
ashore to bury their eggs on
sandy tropical beaches.
TURTLE ▶
Most reptiles, such as turtles, lizards,
and snakes, lay eggs. When these
hatch, the babies that crawl out are
like miniature replicas of the adults.
They live in exactly the same way,
and often eat the same foods.
5 The pupa stays motionless
for several weeks while the
caterpillar inside is taken apart
and rebuilt as a butterfly.
(^6) After emerging, the butterfly
feeds on sugary nectar to get the
energy it needs to fly, but its main
job is to mate and lay eggs.
(^1) An adult female
lays her eggs on a
carefully chosen
plant, and a tiny
larva, or caterpillar,
hatches from each egg.
(^3) The full-grown caterpillar has
a fat, soft body full of stored
energy, which will fuel its
metamorphosis into an adult.
2
By eating ravenously the
baby caterpillar grows fast.
It sheds its tough skin several
times as it gets bigger.
Baby turtle has
well-developed flippers
when it hatches
Sea turtle’s long
flippers enable it to
swim long distances
to reach suitable
breeding beaches
Pupa splits open
and crumpled
butterfly crawls out
Caterpillar sheds its
colourful skin to
emerge as a legless,
pale-looking pupa
1
2
3
4
5
6
1
2
3
4
5
6
(^4) The caterpillar stops feeding
and becomes a pupa – the
stage of its life cycle when
it is transformed into
a winged adult.
036_037_Lifecycles.indd 37 03/01/19 12:09 PM
elle
(Elle)
#1