Linear vs cycles
We tend to look at human lives as individuals and other animals as part of a species. In our perception, a human life proceeds in a linear line, from birth to death. Other animals in cycles, in particular butterflies. With the metamorphosis from egg through caterpillar and pupa to butterfly, with one or more generations per calendar year, is a process we experience in cycles.

Differences in caterpillar’s behaviour can be observed within the various subspecies of butterflies., e.g. the almost insatiable hunger of the Peacock butterfly (Aglais io), the habit of the Puss moth (Cerura vinula) to eat leaves entirely and even a piece of the stem. Also I had the impression to witness individual behaviour of single caterpillars. One of the Euthrix potatoria invariably always climbed to the top of a reed stem to only eat there from often still-coiled leaves, whereas the other caterpillars ate scattered throughout the entire plant. Two out of three tiger moths (Arctia caja) were satisfied with a diet of only thistle (the plant on which I had found them), while the third became restless every few days and desired more variety in her diet. After eating from some other plants, it would return to thistle. I never witnessed the other two (which were somewhat larger and therefore easy to recognise) eating from other leaves than thistle.

Although I surrounded myself with various sort of caterpillars they predominately remained in a parallel world. They sometimes showed an instinctive responds to when I appeared in front of the breeding tent, their typical responds to being confronted with a predator: some held still for long periods of time, others started moving wildly in an attempt to chase me away.