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This is a monarch caterpillar or larva. The primary job of the larva is to eat and
grow. Monarch caterpillars consume only the leaves of milkweed plants. Milkweed leaves
contain bitter substances in their latex that the caterpillar stores in its body and uses
to discourage birds and mice from eating it. Watch the white poisonous latex oozing from
the milkweed. In North America, monarchs have a choice of
106 different milkweed species to eat After about two weeks, the two-inch-long caterpillar
stops eating. It is now ready for the next stage of its
metamorphosis, the chrysalis (or pupa) stage.