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William Gorst

William Gorst

Educational officer and horticulturist at Stratford-upon-Avon Butterfly Farm

Jun 5, 2026

AdamCORRESPONDENT
3:05
Somebody told me something fascinating, which is the process of a butterfly, a caterpillar becoming a butterfly, is that they turn into like a soup.
3:14
That's it.
3:14
Is that true? Yes.
3:16
So caterpillars will shed their skin like a snake or a reptile.
3:19
It's known as an instar.
3:20
They'll go through five of these instars.
3:22
And once they reach their fifth, their largest size, they shed one last time and their skin hardens to create the chrysalis.
AdamCORRESPONDENT
7:07
Species-wise.
AdamCORRESPONDENT
2:55
Is that true?
2:55
Yes.
2:56
So caterpillars will shed their skin like a snake or a reptile.
2:59
It's known as an instar.
3:00
They'll go through five of these instars, and once they reach their fifth, their largest size, uh, they shed one last time, and their skin hardens to create the chrysalis.
3:08
Uh, inside the chrysalis, yeah, their DNA, uh, completely changes.
3:12
It turns into a soup, into, like, a goopy mixture.
speaker_3UNKNOWN
6:47
Species-wise?

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