Everything You Didn't Know About Caterpillars

This video is sponsored by Squarespace. Inside this jar is a caterpillar. Let's open it up. I've always wondered, how do caterpillars breathe? I thought they breathed through their mouths, but I was wrong. Instead, uh, let's look here. I got it. Here. Look here. Do you see those dots that run up and down the caterpillar's side? If we get a close look, it's kind of hard to see, but those dots are holes. These are called spiracles. This caterpillar breathes out of the 16 holes, or spiracles, that line its sides. Other caterpillars also have spiracles. And take a look at this cricket under a microscope. Look real close. You see? There's another hole. It has spiracles too. All insects breathe through holes on their sides. But is a caterpillar an insect, or something else? Insects have six legs. Arachnids have eight. And if we check this caterpillar, it has... 16? Huh. What's going on here? It's a... Ah. Turns out these aren't legs, because look up here towards the front of the caterpillar. Here we see the caterpillar's actual legs. Well then what are these? These fleshy stubs are called prolegs. What do they do? Well if you look closely, at the end of each proleg, you'll find a circle of hooks. Caterpillars use those hooks to grip onto stems and twigs. There they'll hang and form a chrysalis. Oh, not yet. Hmm. I thought that this was the life cycle of a caterpillar. From egg to larva, chrysalis, then adult. But I was wrong. There are a couple missing steps. I'll grab my camera, take a deep breath in, go outside to film some caterpillars and show you the real caterpillar life cycle. Ah, there's one right now. Watch this caterpillar closely. Can you tell what it's doing? It's shedding its skin like a snake. Caterpillars do this as many as five times as they grow. The different caterpillar forms before and after shedding its skin are called instars. This is the correct life cycle of a caterpillar. It includes as many as five instar stages. When a caterpillar is at its final instar stage, it's ready to attach itself to a twig and form a chrysalis. But how does it attach itself? I thought it just grabbed on tight. But I was wrong. Again. Here's another caterpillar. Can you tell what it's doing? It's weaving a tiny mound made out of silk. This is called a button. When this caterpillar is ready to form a chrysalis, it will grab onto that silk button with its last set of prolegs. Then it can hang down and metamorphosize into this guy. Or this girl. How do I tell if a monarch butterfly is a male or female? Well here's another monarch. Can you spot any big differences between these two? Look here. Check out the hind wings on this butterfly. Notice how there's a tiny dot on each hind wing. Remember what this looks like. If we look closely, the other one doesn't have these dots. Male monarchs have dots on their hind wings and female monarchs do not. But before we become a butterfly, we have to metamorphosize. Now I thought the caterpillar skin hardened to form the chrysalis. But I was wrong. Look here. The skin split and it's peeling back just like before. The chrysalis was forming inside the caterpillar's body the whole time. And it's shedding its skin to reveal it. You know what this caterpillar needs? A website. Squarespace gives people a powerful and beautiful online platform from which to create their website, connect with your audience, and generate revenue through gated members-only content. You can create a community, schedule posts, put them behind a paywall, and even set up an e-commerce store. So go to squarespace.com for a free trial and when you're ready to launch, go to squarespace.com to save 10% off your first purchase of a website or domain.