Habitat: north-east India, Myanmar, Thailand, Laos, Cambodia, Vietnam, West Malaysia, south China, Taiwan and Japan

Status: Not Listed

Helloooooo kittyyyy… er, I mean, Hello Caterpillar?

This is the Chinese Bush Brown butterfly (Mycalesis gotama) in its larval (caterpillar) form. It happens to look remarkably like the famous hello Kitty character with its pointy “ears” and cat-shaped face. The only thing really throwing me off here is its wormy body. Guess this a true example of a CATerpillar. Get it? 😉

As you can probably imagine, these cute caterpillars are quite the hit in Japan, the caterpillars native region. I have no idea what the caption above says (please tell me in the comments if you do) but I’m hoping it says OMGWHYISTHISSOCUTE because that’s what I’m saying to myself.

There are toys, paintings, drawings and probably god knows what else inspired by these adorable hello kitty caterpillars. Such a shame that when they finally transform into their adult shapes, they’re nothing but dull, brown butterflies. Ah, to be young and have all the fun!

You can find these guys inching their way along the leaves of rainforests and deciduous forests at elevations between sea level and 600m. Off to Japan I go, the land of all things super kawaii! Hopefully I’ll get to meet one of these #hellokittipillars in the future 🙂