www.ukbutterflies.co.uk

You have to hope the leader knows where he/she is going!

http://www.guypadfield.com/movies/procession091.wmv

Guy

I counted 48 cats! I hope that they found somewhere safe to go and feed.
Please excuse my ignorance, but what species are they? and is this behaviour normal?
Denise

Quick March! Must have been cool to see something like that. I tried counting them and got near 50 of them, now thats a long line. Are those Pine or Oak processonary moth caterpillar? Don't they go along eating foodplants they find in their path and move on?

Hi Dave. I'm pretty sure these are pine processionaries, though I'm not too good with moths. See http://web.cortland.edu/fitzgerald/Pine ... onary.html.

I enjoyed your orange tip video, by the way.

Guy

Sorry, Denise - I didn't see you had replied too. But I think I've answered your question.

I wondered if anyone would count them for me. Thanks!

Guy

I thought it was pine processonary. And thanks guy about Orange-Tip video

Hi Guy,

You have brought back some memories of a few years back now when I saw a long chain of pine processionaries crossing a forest path somewhere in the South of France. I had counted roughly 50 caterpillars (same number as in your video), really amazing!!
I wonder whether the number of cats is always roughly the same. I guess there is safety in numbers!! Thanks for sharing this with us!
Sylvie

Bit of a bugger if the leader stumbles across some kind of predatory bird... the bird can just lay there beak open and the caterpillars will just walk on in!

FISHiEE wrote:Bit of a bugger if the leader stumbles across some kind of predatory bird... the bird can just lay there beak open and the caterpillars will just walk on in!

Yeah, but don't those caterpillars have stinging hairs? I know the Oak processonary caterpillar hairs can be irritant if they touch your skin

Dave McCormick wrote: Yeah, but don't those caterpillars have stinging hairs? I know the Oak processonary caterpillar hairs can be irritant if they touch your skin

In nature, where there's a defence, there's a counter-defence, and quite often a counter-counter-defence &c.!! I'm sure something can eat pine processionaries, even though, as you say, they are defended by irritant hairs.

Guy

Rather than safety in numbers, I think those little fellas are trying to kid potential predators, into thinking they are something a lot larger.

Gruditch

padfield wrote:In nature, where there's a defence, there's a counter-defence, and quite often a counter-counter-defence &c.!! I'm sure something can eat pine processionaries, even though, as you say, they are defended by irritant hairs.

I believe cuckoos specialise in eating caterpillars that other birds would otherwise ignore... and the hairs are no defence against ants, who simply remove them!

A lepidopterist friend of mine tells me that J.H.Fabre once described some classic experiments with processionary caterpillars where they were encouraged onto the rim of a circular pot... They went round and round for days ! Seems a bit cruel today, but I suppose it shows how strong the following instinct was.
Also, apart from a few species of fungi and parasitic wasps, one of the main natural predators of these caterpillars in their normal range are Hoopoes.
Trev