It's a nasty natural world out there, which a lot of environmentalists
would like to overlook. Human beings treat animals far more humanely in
most cases than they treat each other.
The siblings have just the right balance of minerals, vitamins, protein,
what-have-you, so that probably makes them attractive as food. If all of
them survived to adulthood, there would probably be ecological disaster.
They'd either strip the vegetation or starve. Insects produce hundreds
or thousands of offspring for just this reason. It's a balance.
Pat
Keith Wolfe wrote:
> I have observed this opportunistic behavior/survival strategy ("cannibalism"
> is too anthropomorphic for my taste) dozens of times over the years, the meal
> usually being an unfortunate egg, immobile caterpillar, or fresh chrysalis.
> I recently watched in amazement as a fourth-instar Papilio ambrax avidly
> consumed one and then another of its molting cohorts, despite being
> surrounded by fresh citrus leaves. I have also witnessed more aggressive
> encounters where a smaller, mobile sibling is seized, bitten, held overhead,
> and then tossed aside. While overcrowding as well as inadequate host supply
> and/or quality -- NOT the case in the above two examples -- are certainly
> more likely to be factors during confinement, I nevertheless strongly suspect
> this phenomenon (perhaps another anthropomorphic word) occurs frequently, if
> not routinely, in the wild. And why not? It makes perfect sense from the
> hungry larva's standpoint: more food (chemically speaking, just another leaf)
> . . . l
> ess competition.
>
> Best wishes,
>
> Keith
>
> From: [email protected]
> To: [email protected]
> Sent: Tue, 07 Sep 2010 22:50:25 -0000 (UTC)
> Subject: Re: [ButterflyIndia] Fulvous Pied Flat (Pseudocoladenia dan)
>
> kay, some species tend to cannibalize much more than others. i don't think
> there is a general explanation for why that is, but Blues and certain
> nymphalids tend to do this much more frequently. my first Baron (Euthalia
> aconthea) pupa was eaten by another Baron
> caterpillar. it was quite heart-breaking. on the other hand, i have never
> seen any Papilio caterpillars cannibalizing other Papilio or eating anything
> that's not their host plant, no matter how hungry they are.
>
> i don't have a good explanation for these anecdotes, but i am sure someone
> can find a general theory to explain this behavior when we have enough
> observations and/or some experimentation.
>
> At 7:23 PM +0530 9/7/10, satyendra tiwari wrote:
>
> Thankyou for this, I will try and find this plant.
>
> Now another question. We have Common Rose reproducing at present. Always they
> ravage the plants and dont seem to get enough food. Today one of the
> caterpillars actually ate a chrysalis! I have never seen this happen before
> and am wondering if it is common behaviour? Recently we saw a moth
> caterpillar eating a Crow caterpillar and also believe the bigger Crow
> caterpillars ate the smaller ones. Also some variety of ant are eating
> Emigrant eggs. But a caterpillar eating its siblings chrysalis??
>
> Would be intreged to know more.
>
> Thanking you
> Kay Tiwari for Satyendra whose in Pachmarhi.
>
> PS. I have taken a picture but its not of Satyendras standard.
>
--
Enjoy
