A big change

A fat little brown and green caterpillar crawls on a leaf. A moth with
beautiful black designs on its silver wings, flies past a bush. The moth
and the caterpillar don’t look a bit alike. But they are the same kind
of animal. The caterpillar is a baby moth.

Every caterpillar you see in the summertime is a baby moth or butterfly.
When a caterpillar comes out of its egg it spends a few weeks eating and
growing. Then one day it’s ready to change. Some caterpillars fasten
themselves to tree trunks and cover themselves with silk that they make
in their bodies. This silk covering is called a cocoon. Some
caterpillars hang head down from tree branches. Their bodies become
covered with hard shells. Some caterpillars dig into the ground.

Out of these little yellow balls will come tiny caterpillars. The
caterpillars will eat and grow.

Puss Moth Eggs

A puss moth caterpillar looks like a twisted leaf. Its shape and color
help it hide from enemies.

Puss Moth Caterpillar

The caterpillar goes to sleep in its cocoon, shell, or in the ground.
Some caterpillars sleep during most of the summer and wake up in the
fall. Some sleep during the winter and wake up in the spring. But when
the caterpillar wakes from its long nap, it has changed.

It breaks out of its shell, or pushes out of its silk blanket, or crawls
out of the ground. It isn’t a shortlegged caterpillar anymore. It has
six long legs and two long feelers. Tiny raglike things on its back
slowly swell up and become big wings. The crawling little caterpillar
has become a flying creature—a moth or butterfly.

The caterpillar fastens itself to a twig. It covers itself with silk
that it makes inside its body. It goes to sleep.