Kids and adults both coo at the sight of a crawling caterpillar. We imagine that this hungry caterpillar may flutter past someday as a beautiful butterfly. Caterpillars and other insects with segmented bodies are called arthropods. And scientists need your help with a citizen science project aimed at understanding how these insects’ populations are changing.
In 2015, biologist Allen Hurlbert of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill realized that, in a busy world, we tend to forget about the little things, like caterpillars and other arthropods. However, they’re very important: These little creatures keep our environment functioning, eating specific plants and serving as tasty snacks for other animals. Without them, everything is out of balance.
Yet, even as important as they are to our world, we know very little about caterpillars and arthropods.
That idea prompted Hurlbert and his team to launch a citizen science project called Caterpillars Count! The effort doesn’t just focus on caterpillars, but who can resist a good alliteration?
