What triggers the metamorphosis of a caterpillar into a butterfly?
In: Biology
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Metamorphosis is the process of an animal reaching maturity. Hormones are one of the major factors in development, even in humans.
Hormones– or more specifically the lack of them. The caterpillar produces what we call a juvenile hormone. When it stops producing that, it’s time to build a cocoon, where other hormones begin getting produced and trigger its metamorphosis, just like the hormones that cause humans to grow and go through puberty and all. Even in the chrysalis when it’s nothing more but goo, that goo is made of cells and those cells produce and respond to hormones.
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