Meet 'Bug', he's our friendly little caterpillar that is sitting on the leaves at the bottom of your garden. What must it be like to be a caterpillar, they are small, slow, wormy little creatures but they go through some incredible changes in their lives and will eventually turn into a beautifully majestic butterfly full of colour and grace.
Let's learn more about 'Bug' and his life as a caterpillar.
Let's learn more about 'Bug' and his life as a caterpillar.
Baby 'Bug'
'Bug' the caterpillar is actually a baby butterfly or moth. When the eggs of a butterfly or moth hatch, a caterpillar crawls out and at this stage in his life he is called a larva. Like all new born babies the first thing 'Bug' wants to do is eat, and he will eat a lot. He needs to grow up fast and strong so he needs to eat a lot of food. Firstly 'Bug' will eat the remains of the eggs he hatched out of, but his favourite food is leaves, he is going to climb up onto the leaves of all the plants and bushes in your garden and have a big feast, eating as much of them as he can. The leaves are full of energy from the sun and they give 'Bug' all the nutrients he needs to grow.
Munching Caterpillar by Donald Macleod is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 2.0 Unported License. Make me some silk please
Too many farmers and gardeners think caterpillars can be pests. An army of caterpillars can quit quickly eat all a farmers crop of cabbage or your mothers favourite flowers. However your mother probably likes silk clothing, it is one of the most expensive clothing fabrics available. Where does this silk come from? Caterpillars!
caterpillar fabric by mtsofan is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 2.0 Unported License. These are commonly known as the silkworm, but are in fact the caterpillar of the silkmoth (Bombyx mori). 'Bug' our caterpillar has silk glands near his mouth and as he is moving along happily munching on his favourite leaf he is also passing out a strand of silk behind him. Some caterpillars use this strand of silk to hang and swing from as the move from one leaf to another, much like a spider. 'Bug' will use his silk to build a cocoon around him so he can prepare for his next stage in life.
Chrysalis - Vanessa cardui by dnnya17 is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 2.0 Unported License. |
Is it a worm?, No! It's a caterpillar
Caterpillars do look very similar to worms but they are quiet different. They can be long or short, fat or skinny, hairy or bald. The can have many colourful patterns on their body or they can be dull and dark. Unlike worms, caterpillars have legs to walk with. Have a look at a caterpillar, how many legs can you count? They usually have three pairs of real legs at the front of their body, but you might also see legs at the back too. These are not legs at all and in fact these are called false legs.
If you saw the face of a caterpillar close up it might seem like you are looking at a monster. They have a row of eyes on either side of their body and mouth of sharp cutting parts called mandibles which they use to munch down those leaves. hungry hungry hippo! by teejaybee is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 2.0 Unported License. Preparing for the change
When a caterpillar has eaten enough food and grown large enough he will then go through a serious of dramatic changes. His first change is to become a Pupa. Many insects go through this change and the pupa of caterpillar is called a Chrysalis. 'Bug' will form a chrysalis by attaching himself using the silk that he produces to act like a sticky velcro, hanging upside down from a branch or a leaf on a bush. He will then begin to shed his outer skin, however he has another much harder layer of skin underneath this and this will cover his whole body to protect him. A chrysalis often looks like a brown or golden leaf tightly curled up and if you look closely at the bushes in your garden you might spot one handing from a branch. While 'Bug' is wrapped up in his chrysalis his body will begin to change. He will start to loose the shape and functions of his caterpillar form and he will start to grow the body parts he needs to become a butterfly or a moth. A caterpillar can stay at the stage of pupa in his chrysalis for several weeks before finally emerging as a glorious butterfly or moth.
Watch the video below of a caterpillar transforming into a chrysalis. Then progress to the next page to learn about 'Bug's' new life as a butterfly. |
Becoming a Chrysalis (video)
Caterpillar to Chrysalis Transformation by Rob Ellis is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 2.0 Unported License.
Crunching Munching Caterpillar - A butterfly's life by Deborah Judge is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Ireland License.