LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) -- Students at a Louisville nonprofit focused on forest education and restoration fostered three caterpillars that formed into monarch butterflies.
The Louisville Nature Center maintains 80 acres of forest surrounding Joe Creason Park. Accessing the area is free and open to the public, and they offer educational opportunities for people of all ages through camps, weekend programs and the Swallowtail Forest School, a pre-school program that takes place entirely outdoors.
The seven monarch butterflies fostered by the Swallowtail students were released into the wild Monday, along with other butterflies from the Idlewild Butterfly Farm. They have also tagged the butterflies with small stickers so their migration can be tracked.
"It's just a great opportunity for them to learn about metamorphosis (and) life cycles," said Rebecca Minnick, executive director of the Louisville Nature Center. "These are big concepts for them to wrap their heads around but just to connect that the caterpillar is going to become that butterfly."
The monarchs are expected to travel to Mexico.
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