Field+-+Schnickel+Butterfly+Observation+Log

To view photos Full Screen** 1. Click the bottom right corner of the slideshow ( rainbow circle ) 2. Click the name of the photo album ( Chicks Scrapbook ) 3. Click "Slideshow" in the top left corner || Visitor Thoughts - Click here to make a comment || Our ants have made three tunnels across their habitat and they work up and down both ends of their home. The kids love them! ||
 * **Live Video Streaming** || **Slideshow of Photos** ||
 * media type="custom" key="3847279" || **media type="custom" key="3630513"
 * = **OBSERVATION LOG**
 * **Date** || **Photos / Drawings** || **Observations** ||
 * 4/7/09 || [[image:schnickel_cater1 width="238" height="175"]] || Caterpillars were just moving around inside their container when they arrived. ||
 * 4/8/09 ||  || Caterpillars are spinning white threads. ||
 * 4/9/09 || [[image:schnickel_cater2.jpg width="247" height="298"]] || They have already grown considerably. The threads are more noticable. ||
 * 4/9/09 || [[image:antfarm width="230" height="210"]] || We are also observing ants in a space-age habitat. We will be learning more about them when we begin our summer planner. ||
 * 4/10 ||  || Our caterpillars are approximately one inch long now and we have had them for only 4 days! The white threads are crisscrossing the jar now.
 * 4/13 || [[image:IMG_1633.jpg width="220" height="165"]] || Oh my gosh! Our caterpillars have stretched out to 1/1/4 inches long and they look plumb. I believe they like their food. The children were excited to look at them. I almost had to pry them away from our science table. ||
 * 4/13 || [[image:ant1.jpg width="183" height="209"]] || Now our ants have added a tunnel across their habitat and they are making them look wider. The kids absolutely love studying them with the magnifying lense. They have also formed tunnels along the bottom of their home. ||
 * 4/16 || [[image:IMG_1643.jpg width="295" height="300"]] || Our caterpillars are now 11/2 inches long! They like to hang out from the top of their habitat more and more but they are not quite in the pupal stage yet. The white silk has disappeared and we are noticing green balls of caterpillar waste or "frass" accumulating on the bottom of the container.

|| || Having trouble seeing the video. You may need to download [|XVID Codec] - choose - XVID for Windows - then click download. || On Friday our caterpillars were entering the pupal stage because most of them were hanging upside down from the top of their container. Now they are harden into beautiful iridescent chrysalids! Within the chrysalid, the old body parts of the caterpillar will undergo a remarkable change to form the new parts that make up the adult butterfly. This pupal stage will take 7-10 days. Our AntWorks is a space-age habitat based upaon a 2003 NASA Space Shuttle experiment to study animal life in space and test how ants successfully tunnel in microgravity. Our Harvester ants have large mandibles for creating tunnels in the gel.Did you know that ants can carry up to 50 times their own weight? The white matter on top of the blue gel is the "building blocks" created from the gel to form their art hill. They have even created tunnels in their hill. || || I apologize for our webcam stopping. However, all the caterpillars are inside their chrysalids working on becoming butterflies. Everyday, the children stop by to observe. One chrysalid is laying on the bottom of our butterfly cage because he was found on the bottom of our caterpillar container. It will be interesting to see if he develops the same as the other ones that are hanging from the side of our cage. All of our ants seem to be alive and healthy yet. They are suppose to live from one to three months. ||
 * 4/16 || [[image:IMG_1644.jpg width="297" height="267"]] || Our harvester ants normally like to eat seeds and of course most ants crave sugars and can detect the smell of sweet foods from very far away. That's why we have ants every time we picnic! Ants add protein to their diet by eating dead insects and caterpillars are a favorite. Better watch out caterpillars! Of course our harvester ants are surrounded by a nutritious gel.
 * 4/19 || media type="file" key="VID00180.AVI"
 * 4/21 || [[image:IMG_1649.jpg width="182" height="154"]]