Interactive Bugs

A story to scroll through

From egg to wing

The whole life of a peacock butterfly, from a tiny egg on a nettle leaf to its first flight. Scroll down slowly and watch it grow.

  1. 1 / 7 · Week 0

    It starts on a nettle

    In late spring a female peacock butterfly lays a big batch of tiny green eggs on the underside of a young stinging nettle leaf. There can be hundreds at once.

  2. 2 / 7 · After a week or two

    Hatching

    Tiny black caterpillars nibble their way out of the eggs. They stay together as a family and spin a tent of silk over the top of the nettle to shelter in.

  3. 3 / 7 · About a month

    Eat, grow, repeat

    Now they do little but eat nettle leaves. They grow so fast that each one sheds its skin four times. Their black, spiky skin with white dots tells birds they are not worth eating.

  4. 4 / 7 · Fully grown

    Going it alone

    When a caterpillar is fully grown it leaves the group and wanders off on its own, looking for a safe, sheltered place to change.

  5. 5 / 7 · About two weeks

    The chrysalis

    It hangs upside down from a little pad of silk and sheds its skin one last time. Underneath is the chrysalis. Inside, its whole body is being rebuilt. If something disturbs it, it can wriggle.

  6. 6 / 7 · The big day

    Out it comes

    The chrysalis turns dark and you can see the wings through it. Then it splits, and the butterfly climbs out with soft, crumpled wings. It pumps fluid into the veins to stretch them out, then waits for them to dry.

  7. 7 / 7 · Ready

    And now it follows you

    Once its wings are dry and the sun has warmed it up, it opens its wings for the first time, and off it goes. Keep scrolling: it's yours now.

At a glance

Four stages, one butterfly

  1. 1

    Egg

    Laid in a batch on a nettle leaf in late spring. Hatches after a week or two.

  2. 2

    Caterpillar

    Eats and grows for about a month, shedding its skin four times.

  3. 3

    Chrysalis

    Hangs from a silk pad for about two weeks while its body is rebuilt.

  4. 4

    Butterfly

    Flies in summer, then sleeps through the winter and wakes in spring to lay eggs.

Want peacocks in your garden?

Leave a patch of stinging nettles somewhere sunny and sheltered, and plant nectar flowers like buddleia, lavender and marjoram for the adults.

Meet all the bugs

Photo credits

Thank you to the photographers who share their pictures freely. All photos show the peacock butterfly and have been resized and cropped for this page.

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