What pants do caterpillars destroy?

Answer 1

Caterpillars will destroy anybody's pants. Of course there are definitely different grades of attack. Green pants or floral ones, or the pants of cabbage patch dolls are at greatest risk. Short pants or man made fibre pants are relatively safe unless the wearer sits down.

It also can depend upon the particular caterpillar that is marauding. For example, the Woolly Bear Caterpillar* obviously goes for the trousers made of wool, except, of course, when they are in training for the races at the Woolly Worm Festival in Banner Elk, North Carolina each year in October. During their training, they switch to high carbohydrate pants, such as those made of cotton or linen as the meal before the races for that extra burst of carb energy.

There have been claims, although there is no proof of this, that the reason the Scottish men started wearing wool kilts instead of wool pants was to prevent their clothing from being destroyed by pant eating Woolly caterpillars. Another unsubstantiated claim is that these pant eating caterpillars have an aversion to plaids, and that is the origin of the popularity of Tartan wools, but since that approach was not entirely effective, they gave up and just changed to the kilts.

In Canada, the Malacosoma disstria-nostra- order Ledierdoptera a distant cousin of the Forest Tent caterpillar has been found to enjoy nibbling both canvas and leather pants. While this has not really been of great concern with the exception of on army bases and beer gardens during Oktoberfest. Recent events, specifically the costume malfunctions of several Oompah bands this year however have brought the issue of control of this insect to the forefront. When contacted, the minister of the environment was quoted as saying "there is no such thing as the dissra-nostra", those big tents are supposed to have no sides and the holes in the top are for ventilation. This of course was meant once again to mis-direct the concerned citizens away from the real problem. Once the caterpillars have done their nasty work on the lederhosen straps and those large lads get well into the beer and music, it can turn from Oompah to "swing" in seconds causing the beer maids to drop trays of beer in fits of laughter.



*Additional Note: The winner of the 2009 race was Wilbur (his human is 9 year old Noah Jens, from Chapel Hill, NC). Woolly Worms (also spelled Wooly Worms) are the larvae of the Isabella tiger moth. The banded caterpillars are known to be excellent predictors of the weather in the upcoming winter based upon the ratio of brown to black coloring of their "wool". See related questions and links for more information.