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The reason why some animals go through metamorphosis is so that there is less competition for food and a place to live. The larvae will eat different things then the adults. For example, caterpillars eat plants while the butterflies drink nectar. This is especially useful for insects because there are billions of each species. If they all ate the same food and lived in the same places then there would be an over population of them and there wouldn’t be enough food and habitat to go around. Many would die out and they may risk extinction. Since they do go through metamorphosis there can be many more of them alive and they won’t risk extinction. Amphibians do it so there can be more territory. The babies live in the water but the adults live on land.
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What is Metamorphosis?
A metamorphosis is the change between the child forms to the adult form. It has two or more stages. This is commonly found in insects and amphibians. Some crustaceans also go through metamorphosis. There are two types of metamorphosis. They are complete and incomplete. The stages in complete metamorphosis are egg, larva, pupa, and adult. In incomplete the stages are nymph first instar, nymph third instar, and adult (instar refers to a certain growth stage). These stages may have different names for different organisms but the process is about the same.
Metamorphosis is trigged by thyroid hormones from the thyroid gland. It’s a lot like what happens with humans and growth hormones. Sometimes a larva won’t have these hormones and won’t morph. People can inject these hormones into the larva to allow them to morph. if you inject enough you can cause growth abnormalities. In insects, the stage that they go through metamorphosis in is the pupa stage. This is a lot like the teenage years for humans.
What Causes Metamorphosis?
Metamorphosis
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Why do Some Animals go Through Metamorphosis
Websites used:
• Science.jrank.org
• www.morning-earth.org
• biology-forums.com
