Black Swallowtail Caterpillars

This morning I gathered up extra food and extra vases, and carefully transferred most of the black swallowtail caterpillars to the new vases.  They were about to take their first ride in a vehicle.

You see, Mr. Second Grade Teacher was waiting for them at school, eager to let his students watch the life cycle unfold.  Sure enough, green branches with little things crawling on them were enough to capture the  students' curiosity, and within moments I was explaining to a wide-eyed youngster that these guys would turn into butterflies soon, holding out my fingers as I motioned, "THIS BIG!"

They've grown a lot in the last week, to be sure!  Soon I'll show you some more photos of the biggest ones.  You can't imagine how fascinating it is to watch one eat through a whole sprig of dill in a matter of minutes, clinging with some feet, using other feet to search out the juiciest leaves, twisting the whole body around to get the mouth around the newest morsel from the best angel.