Fifth Grade
Worksheets
That Is One Very Hungry Caterpillar!
This morning did you eat egg shells for breakfast? I hope not! You may have eaten eggs, but hopefully you did not eat any of the shells! Did you know that monarch caterpillars eat egg shells? In fact, it is their very first meal.
Caterpillars are very small when they hatch from eggs. They are only one-sixteenth of an inch long. One could fit on the head of a pin! These caterpillars may be very small, but they are also very hungry. As soon as a caterpillar hatches, he begins to eat. His first meal is his own broken shell. The shell is very good for him. It is full of nutrients. These nutrients help him grow and develop.
After eating his shell, the caterpillar moves on to something tastier - leaves. He will eat 20 to 30 milkweed leaves in just two weeks. Once he is fully grown, he will weigh 3,000 times more than he did when he hatched. If you were to eat and grow like a monarch caterpillar, you would weigh as much as a school bus - when you were only 15 days old!
