A monarch butterflies enjoys the Butterfly House at the Great Bend-Brit Spaugh Zoo, Wednesday afternoon. Zoo Director Scott Gregory said summer is the best time for viewing butterflies, but there was no shortage of monarchs this week.

A butterfly begins its life cycle first as an egg, then as a caterpillar, next as a pupa in its chrysalis, and finally, it emerges as a butterfly. This entire process takes about four weeks from start to finish.

“We get our butterflies imported at pupae from Florida,” Gregory said. Zoo Educator Sarah Krom  hot glues them onto a branch, as shown here. They should hatch within two weeks.