Department of Energy Argonne National Laboratory Office of Science NEWTON's Homepage NEWTON's Homepage
NEWTON, Ask A Scientist!
NEWTON Home Page NEWTON Teachers Visit Our Archives Ask A Question How To Ask A Question Question of the Week Our Expert Scientists Volunteer at NEWTON! Frequently Asked Questions Referencing NEWTON About NEWTON About Ask A Scientist Education At Argonne Caterpillar Behavior 
Name: Laura
Status: N/A
Age: N/A
Location: N/A
Country: N/A
Date: N/A
Question:
We found some black swallowtail butterfly caterpillars eating parsley in my friend's garden. I brought two of them home, put them in a butterfly pavilion and gave them lots of fresh parsley. Yesterday, they were moving around a lot. Today they have not moved. They are not forming a chrysalis; they are just staying still on a stick and on the top of the pavilion. They are horizontal and not vertical. Is this normal behavior? If not, what can I do differently with a new set of caterpillars?

Replies:
Its possible that the caterpillars were getting ready to form their chrysalis. If so, they should have done so by now. Otherwise its hard to tell what might be happening, many things could cause them to stop eating and possibly die.

J. Elliott

It could be that the caterpillars are slowing down in preparation to form a chrysalis. Typically they will stop eating awhile before they become vertical and form a J.

Grace Fields

Click here to return to the Zoology Archives

NEWTON is an electronic community for Science, Math, and Computer Science K-12 Educators, sponsored and operated by Argonne National Laboratory's Educational Programs, Andrew Skipor, Ph.D., Head of Educational Programs.

For assistance with NEWTON contact a System Operator (help@newton.dep.anl.gov), or at Argonne's Educational Programs

NEWTON AND ASK A SCIENTIST
Educational Programs
Building 360
9700 S. Cass Ave.
Argonne, Illinois
60439-4845, USA
Update: June 2012
Weclome To Newton

Argonne National Laboratory