What do Caterpillars Eat
A caterpillar may be taken as a moth or a butterfly without wings. Caterpillars can be taken as the undeveloped butterfly this way. Talking about the diet of this creature, it always remains a matter of concern. We know that a caterpillar starts its life as an egg, but what happens then and how does it survives as a pupa? All this remains a matter of concern for those who make researched about this creature and thus we here are providing you the exact information about this creature and its eating habits.
What do Caterpillars Eat
The Start of Life:-
Ever since an egg gets hatched and a baby caterpillar crawls out from it, it starts eating and keeps on eating and eats till next few weeks feeding constantly. This eating habit enables it to grow quickly and thus you may say that a caterpillar results in a butterfly by eating.
Well the process is not even so much easy and instead you may take it as the egg gives rise to a caterpillar, this caterpillar sheds its exoskeleton after constantly feeding on for a few weeks and turns to a pupa that I mentioned in the introduction and now this pupa will stay in the cocoon and when it will leave this place, it will be turned into a butterfly. This was how a caterpillar evolute itself to a butterfly and as I told you, it will start feeding since the very beginning of his life, let us now study its eating habits.
What Does A Caterpillar Feed On?
Well the answer is very simple, when the butterflies never eat flesh or suck blood, how can caterpillar do that and as like butterflies, even it chooses to stay on a plant based diet only. Caterpillars choose to eat leaves of trees as well as plants with flowers and feed it only. You might feel amazed to know that the caterpillar will feed on the only plant’s leaves on which the mother had laid her egg and its life begin to a start. It will eat only the leaves of this plant or tree only for the rest of his life.
Eating Process:-
A caterpillar has got a pair of jaws or mouth that we refer to as mandibles that it makes use of so as to feed on the plant’s leaves on which it resides and preferably eats the leaves that are in close contact with the ground. This plant based food is used as both, the protection as well as means of evolution by these caterpillars.
The food that they eat acts as a protection to them in a way that when predators try to eat these caterpillars, it does not tastes good to them and this way predators stay away from caterpillars so as to save themselves against these harmful toxins and thus the caterpillar keeps on feeding freely so as to turn into a butterfly.