10 Fun facts about caterpillars

The transformation from a caterpillar to butterfly is incredible but caterpillars are pretty amazing too!

1. Caterpillars only have six true legs. Caterpillars appear to have lots of legs but only six are true legs since caterpillars are insects. All the other legs are prolegs or “false legs”. The prolegs have tiny hooks on the ends which help with walking and climbing.

2. Caterpillars eat a lot. Caterpillars begin eating the moment they eat their way out of their egg. Before pupating, a caterpillar can be 100 times larger than when it emerged from its egg.

3. Caterpillars shed their skin. Caterpillars need to grow so when they get too big for their skin they arch their back to split their skin and shed it. They shed four to five times before they pupate.

4. Caterpillars drool out silk for a cocoon. The silk used to make a cocoon comes from the salivary (spit) glad. The caterpillar has an opening on its lip called the spinneret where the liquid silk is drooled out. Once in contact with air the silk hardens.

5. Caterpillars have six pairs of eyes. Most caterpillars have six pairs of eyes called ocelli or stemmata. Their eyes can sense light intensity but cannot see an image or colors.

6. Caterpillars don’t have lungs. Caterpillars breath through a spiracle on each side of each body segment which is connected to a trachea. As the caterpillar moves the air is pumped into the trachea and carbon dioxide is pushed out.

7. Caterpillars move like no other animal. The crawling motion of a caterpillar that is like a wave moving from its back to front is not seen in any other animal.

8. Caterpillar’s gut moves independently. A caterpillar’s gut is attached at the front and rear and not to the body walls. When the caterpillar moves, the gut moves with the rear and head instead of the body wall so the gut appears to move ahead of the body wall.

9. Caterpillars are a form of grub. Grubs are the larval stage of insects. Since butterfly and moths have prolegs they are called caterpillars instead of just grubs.

10. Caterpillars don’t have teeth. Caterpillars have mandibles which are tooth-like. They chew from side-to-side instead of up and down like people.