Nature facts

Did you know about caterpillars?

Did you know?

A caterpillar hatches out of a tiny egg. These eggs are made of a sticky substance that help them cling to a leaf and not fall off.

One caterpillar will hatch out of each egg. It will do this by eating its way out of the egg and this can take quite a few hours to happen, once it has eaten its egg it then moves on to eat the leaf it hatches on.

A caterpillar is a sort of larva (a young insect). It just wants to eat and eat and it grows BIGGER AND BIGGER.

Some caterpillars are green or brown so they can hide on plants. Some are brightly coloured and spiky or hairy so they look scary or bad to eat.

When it is big enough, a caterpillar does something amazing. It makes a cocoon called a pupa or chrysalis around itself (kind or like wrapping a massive duvet around you) so that it will be safe inside. Then it turns into a sort of liquid a bit like soup. The soup-like liquid slowly forms into an adult insect!

The adult insect changes into the beautiful form of a butterfly