These Caterpillars Are “Wearing” Cozy Sweaters With Penguins on Their Backs

We don’t know who the first person was to notice that these caterpillars are “wearing” penguins on their backs, but we are thankful for this discovery. Nature colored these pretty insects in such a way that they look like they’ve spent Christmas at their grandma’s and gotten a fancy handmade penguin sweater as a present.

Here at Bright Side we had no idea that insects could look this fancy. Please meet the tent caterpillar in all its glory!

The family of tent caterpillars has different species which boast a great variety of colors and patterns. Forest tent caterpillars are the ones that surely stand out from the crowd. If you have a closer look at these creatures, you’ll see a string of dancing penguins on their backs.

Tent caterpillars were named this because they web “tents” around tree branches and trunks. They normally eat leaf buds and foliage, and pupate in yellow cocoons attached to trees. Then they turn into moths with dark stripes on their front wings. Tent caterpillars usually live on oak, birch, elm, and maple trees.

The "tent" webbed by tent caterpillar larvae

In most cases we admire butterflies and moths way more than when they were at their former stage, but this is probably not the case with Forest tent caterpillars. Here are a few of them showing off their cozy penguin “sweaters”!

Have you ever seen tent caterpillars in real life? What was the most unusual insect or animal you’ve ever seen? If you have a pic to share, we’d be glad to see it in the comments!