Little known facts about caterpillars

Every child knows that a caterpillar is nothing like the larva of a butterfly. Almost all caterpillars feed on plants, i.e. leaves and flowers, sometimes fruits. But there are other varieties of these insects, which eat not the leaves with flowers, as for example, wool, wax, Horny substance, and so on. In nature there are carnivorous caterpillars, they feed mainly on insects such as aphids, larvae and pupae of ants. They don't loath to eat their brethren. It is known that immediately after birth, the caterpillar eats the shell of its egg, and then all the eggs along the way.

The eyes of this insect are located on the sides of the head. In addition, the organs of vision are in the vicinity of the mouth of the caterpillar, and they are located in the form of an arc, consisting of 5 simple holes with one in the middle of the arc. Did You know that a simple caterpillar can easily compete with the most powerful athlete, because her body has about 4000 muscles, and the person is known to them only 629. Unlike human, the muscles of caterpillars constitute the skeletal structure of their body. They're like small balloons with air, which circulates blood through the weave of the muscles.





Since the birth of the caterpillar, only those involved, what is hard is gaining weight, eating all in a row. Thus, after 56 days it can grow in tens times. And the caterpillar, like the spider can make silk webs. Only here shelkavichanya steam iron located in her lower lip. This kind of saliva, standing out, and contacting with oxygen, is transformed into silk thread. Then the caterpillar can use to glue foliage with the aim of equipping cocoon or protection. For silk manufacturing for many centuries, people collect the cocoons of the caterpillar of the silkworm tutuola. Just imagine that the shell of this cocoon consists of a continuous silk thread that reaches 900 m in length, and sometimes its length can reach 1500 m.





Some caterpillars are known for their endurance. They can hibernate to wait out the winter. The life cycle of some species of insect can last 15 years. As for extreme temperatures, somewhere in the world there are individuals who feel quite comfortable at a temperature of 70 degrees below zero, and some species of caterpillars have gone further: they have learned to deceive ants, posing as the uterus. Using such tricks, they easily survive hard times in a warm and cosy nest, the ants feed them and protect.

Moreover, there is one caterpillar that can save humans and animals from death. Caterpillar dipper krestovnikova feed on toxic plants themselves become toxic. They are so much in love with this plant that in some countries they are specially bred to combat this threat to all life of a plant.

 

Source: mif-facts.com.ua