A Caravan of Caterpillars

Some animals take team work to the extreme! While climbing on a boulder the other evening (to get a good sunset view and have a wee sundowner), we spotted this chain of hairy larvae making their way to...well...who-knows-where but they were certainly all going there together!!! These are the caterpillars of the processionary moth, a very gregarious species that occurs together on larval food plants and then whenever it is necessary to transfer to a new tree, the worms will move in a procession, head to rear, following a leader and leaving a silk trail as they move. They move imperceptibly slowly and the resultant effect is that the procession resembles a snake or a stick and is ignored by their usual predators (like cuckoos, birds which specialise in eating hairy caterpillars). The caterpillars also pupate collectively (up to 600 together) in a purse-like ‘bagnet’ and emerge as rather small and nondescript cream and brown moths.