MONARCH CATERPILLARS WITH AN ATTITUDE

Can Monarch caterpillars have a personality?

This page tells the story (with photos below) of two Monarch caterpillars who behaved in a very different way when it was time to search for a spot to pupate.

Out of 35 caterpillars I have raised so far, those two are the only ones that displayed such a 'temperament' or 'attitude'.

They crawled restlessly for several hours over their Milkweed plants, then escaped and crawled up the window screen. They then kept on crawling and crawling when I put them back on the plants, seemingly unsatisfied with their surroundings.

At the time (2018) I didn't think of the idea of introducing lilac leaves in their glass jar, which might have satisfied their needs.

Instead, I eventually placed a screen on top of the container with the glass jar, with the Milkweed plants touching the screen. Sure enough, they soon started weaving their silk pads on the screen, VERY CLOSE to each other.

I placed that screen on top of kitchen cabinets after they were securely attached to their silk pads. They emerged as butterflies one day apart. Curiously, it just happened that these two were a male and a female...