The Wonderous Caterpillar (Science sains)

Caterpillar colors and body shapes are as diverse as the butterflies that they will eventually become. They range from small brown almost maggot-like larvas to huge, fat, alien-like creatures that can reach over 4 inches in length.

The anatomy of a caterpillar is comprised of jointed body segments like that of the common earthworm. They have three sets of legs (true legs) used for walking and also posses fleshly appendages called pro-legs that end in tiny hooks that allow them to grasp the edges of leaves. Like all other butterfly catepillars, beathing is accomplished by intaking air through small openings located between segments of the catepillars body. They have the highest number of muscles in their small body of any animal on the planet. Comparative studies show that humans only have 792 distinct muscles, whereas grasshoppers have 900, and caterpillars may have as many as 4,000 separate muscles.

Most are vegetarians and usually eat only a small number of plants called their host plants where they will later after metamorphosis lay eggs as an adult butterfly if female. Caterpillars are voracious eaters. One species, the Polyphemus larva, also the worlds largest at nearly 4 inches in length, can eat over 86,000 times its body weight in less than 2 months before pupating. They have strong jaws and eat leaves in a top-down fashion usually going from left to right along the leaf edge and working its way down to the stem.

Not the push-overs that they would seem to be adult caterpillars have an arsenal to help protect them from preditors. Some have poisonous spike-like appendages on the top of their segments that when touched produce a irritating toxin that can cause major irritation of the skin when handled. Others rely on the production of toxins built-up from the plants that they consume to dissuade enemies from eating them. The toxins, although not usually fatal, will give pause to birds that are thinking of eating another of the species after their first experience. Members of the swallowtail family have another weapon at their disposal. Theses caterpillars posses two long horn like structures, called an Osmeterium that they can extend from the top of the head that emit a noxious odor that gives the impression to preditors that they will get a very bad taste in their mouth if they try for a quick snack.

Some moths and butterflies remain caterpillars for two or three months, others for about 10 months, hibernating through the winter in this stage. In the Arctic are some forms that require two or three years to develop from egg to adult.

by Tim Willbanks

Science Sains

Science Definations (science Sains)

Definitions by goal and process:
1. the systematic observation of natural events and conditions in order to discover facts about them and to formulate laws and principles based on these facts.
2. the organized body of knowledge that is derived from such observations and that can be verified or tested by further investigation.
3. any specific branch of this general body of knowledge, such as biology, physics, geology, or astronomy.

Academic Press Dictionary of Science & Technology

Science is an intellectual activity carried on by humans that is designed to discover information about the natural world in which humans live and to discover the ways in which this information can be organized into meaningful patterns. A primary aim of science is to collect facts (data). An ultimate purpose of science is to discern the order that exists between and amongst the various facts.

Dr. Sheldon Gottlieb in a lecture series at the University of South Alabama

Science involves more than the gaining of knowledge. It is the systematic and organized inquiry into the natural world and its phenomena. Science is about gaining a deeper and often useful understanding of the world.

from the Multicultural History of Science page at Vanderbilt University.

Science consists simply of the formulation and testing of hypotheses based on observational evidence; experiments are important where applicable, but their function is merely to simplify observation by imposing controlled conditions.

Robert H. Dott, Jr., and Henry L. Batten, Evolution of the Earth (2nd edition)


Science alone of all the subjects contains within itself the lesson of the danger of belief in the infallibility of the greatest teachers in the preceeding generation . . .As a matter of fact, I can also define science another way: Science is the belief in the ignorance of experts.

Richard Feynman, Nobel-prize-winning physicist,
in The Pleasure of Finding Things Out
as quoted in American Scientist v. 87, p. 462 (1999).