The Plain Tiger

Here we have some stages of the Plain Tiger butterfly, metamorphosing from caterpillar to butterfly.

Ok, this is how it starts, after the egg comes the hungry caterpillar.

What goes in, must come out...

and interesting that as this Caterpillar feeds on Milkweed, which contains toxic compounds, this makes it - and the butterfly - unpalatable to most predators. So it is true: You are what you eat?

Then we have the lovely Chrysalis. This one already hatched.

Then the butterfly, as a newly hatched wonder. This butterfly is also sometimes called the African Monarch butterfly.

Lastly, this close up shows clearly how the proboscis is formed, as two separate strands, forked like a snake, which then bind together.