The larve’s most toxic substance is a protein called thaumetopoein, which is found mostly in the caterpillars’ hairs. These insects typically have around 63,000 hairs, which are ejected as they trudge along. The hairs can easily become airborne. Find out more!

Caterpillars use camouflage to protect themselves from predators. Some caterpillars make themselves look like bird droppings, others have colorful splotches on their bodies that look like snake eyes while some mimic patterns of their toxic counterparts.

The Calindoes trifascialis, a caterpillar that lives in the forests of Southern Vietnam, wraps itself in leaves that it makes into tiny sleeping bags when it prepares to pupate. It then hops around the forest floor, directing itself away from sunlight.

The gum leaf skeletoniser caterpillar has fuzzy hats on top of its head. This “hat” is made from old heads that the caterpillar sheds every time it molts. Each time it casts off an old skin, the caterpillar pops its most recently shed head on top of its new, bigger head until it makes a small tower.

All swallowtail caterpillars, if disturbed, will suddenly give out a bright orange osmeteria from behind its head, which give off a very foul odor.