Stinging caterpillars and poisonous news | 台北市立動物園資訊網

I received a WhatsApp forward from multiple groups last week. It showed a man poking a large green hairy caterpillar, resting on a mango leaf, with a stick. He warned viewers that this was a dangerous, poisonous insect – anyone who touched it would die a horrible death within four hours. The “deadly insect” in this video is the common Baron caterpillar, which hatches into a mud-coloured, gently beautiful common baron butterfly. It certainly causes intense itching if you touch it – similar to the kambli hula, which we all know too well – but you don’t need to poke it with a stick. It’s not going to kill you. All it seeks is to be left alone, melting inconspicuously into the background of the mango leaf, completing its journey of transformation into a pretty butterfly.

Some ants sting, but we need ants to turn over and aerate the earth so that other things can grow. Some caterpillars cause itching, but wi...