Eastern Tent Caterpillar (Malacosoma americana)

While I am not particularly fond of most insects, I do enjoy coming across these caterpillars on my walks through the woods. These gregarious little caterpillars are among the most social creatures in my region of the world and can be commonly found on rose and apple saplings in the spring and summer months.

Shortly after hatching, these caterpillars create silk nests that obscure and protect them from most predators. Three times a day they will exit the nest in unison to feed on the leaves of their host and surrounding trees before immediately returning to the safety of their silken tents. But while they hide away in their tents, the caterpillars cannot afford to rest. Each day they must expand the walls of their nest to accommodate their own growing bodies.

For those predators that are undeterred by their tent alone, the caterpillars will regurgitate cyanide-laced juices that they acquire from the cherry leaves that they eat from their surrounding habitat, making them a toxic snack for would-be predators. The act of the brightly colored caterpillars sitting on the outside of the tent itself is an example of aposematism: the signaling of one species to another that it is toxic or otherwise dangerous to eat.

I can't blame them for assuming that I was a threat while taking these pictures. I hope that I didn't disturb them too badly.