Butterflies get all the love—but caterpillars may be even more stunning

A photographer reveals the astonishing ways these masters of metamorphosis can fool their predators and us.

Green caterpillar hanging on white flower stem.
Photographer Sam Jaffe captures the delight and deceit of his subjects, such as this cecropia caterpillar. Despite its fierce appearance, the breakfast-sausage-size creature is harmless.
ByJason Bittel
Photographs bySam Jaffe
August 5, 2024

Before they transform into moths and butterflies, caterpillars must outwit, outplay, outlast. Sam Jaffe’s images of the tubular creatures show just how: through mimicry, defensive adaptations, and partnerships with plants. The naturalist-photographer has been enamored with the insects since age four. “I used to bring them into my parents’ house,” he says. “They’d find them crawling up the walls.” While working at Harvard University, Jaffe began taking pictures of native caterpillars during his free time, then displaying the results at local galleries. The exhibitions sparked so much interest that he launched an educational nonprofit, the Caterpillar Lab, in 2013, to open our eyes to these masters of metamorphosis and inspire their protection.

(How a caterpillar becomes a butterfly: Metamorphosis, explained.)

Two green caterpillars hanging from remaining stem of the eaten leaf.
After eating a leaf, big poplar sphinx caterpillars clip the stalk and let it fall, perhaps to hide from predators.
Caterpillar camouflages to blend in the partially eaten leaf.
The lace-capped caterpillar is a leaf-edge mimic, using its own body to fill in the foliage space it just devoured.
Dark hairy caterpillar on vertical plant stem.
“It’s a general trend that if a caterpillar is hairy or spiny, it’s a good one not to touch,” says Jaffe. The cherry dagger variety can cause slight skin irritation.
Two caterpillars resembling faded parts of the flower.
Pug caterpillars come in a rainbow of hues, depending on their host plant. These raised on blue vervain aren’t a perfect match but can fool from afar.
Green caterpillar hanging from green stem of faded flower.
While some may view the common looper caterpillar as nothing more than a pest of lettuce and tomatoes, Jaffe sees “character and form and color.”
Two brown caterpillars almost undetectable on brown scorched leaves.
Elm sphinx caterpillars eat elm leaves, of which they’re a near-perfect copy. Even their scratchy, ridged texture is a dead ringer for their host plant’s, says Jaffe.
Three caterpillars looking exactly like green part of the flower stem.
Blackberry looper caterpillars pretend to be simple twigs or other plant parts. Jaffe notes that as adult moths, they are “absolutely beautiful little green things.”
Colorful caterpillar capeating the shape of a plant stem.
The eight-spotted forester that Jaffe found on a fox grape tendril vomits when threatened, a common caterpillar defense.
Two empty chrysalises.
Widespread in much of the world, the painted lady butterfly emerges from a chrysalis that reveals indications of legs, eyes, antennae, and wings—features of the strong and stunning flyer it will become.
Group of caterpillars with black and white stripes.
Completely obscuring the smilax leaf below them, a group of turbulent phosphila caterpillars gather tightly together. When they sense danger, they start to wiggle, creating a visually confusing show of movement and pattern.
Two rusty colored caterpillars on remaining part of the leaf.
Late-season foliage is often marred by fungus, bite marks, and decay, so late-season caterpillars evolved to mimic these traits, such as this white-blotched prominent variety featuring jagged edges and patchy colors to resemble an old oak leaf.
Perfect side view of green caterpillar finishing eating half of green leaf.
A double-toothed prominent caterpillar mimics not only the color but also the texture, markings, and profile of the elm leaf it’s snacking on.
This story appears in the September 2024 issue of National Geographic magazine.

Go Further

Animals

Environment

History & Culture

Science

Travel