Contrary to popular belief, this is not a cocoon. Only certain moths build cocoons, which are like a silky sleeping bag that covers the insect. This, on the other hand, is what's called a chrysalis.

This discovery—or so the legend goes—marked the beginning of silk production. Silk originates from the cocoon of the domestic ...

The caterpillar, along with most others in the Saturniidae family, spins a silk cocoon. This is where it then spends its time as a pupa, the stage of development before the moth becomes an adult.

Characteristic cocoon with final instar larva and pupa of the alpine rose leaf-miner moth on Rhododendron ferrugineum in Ardez, Graubünden, Switzerland. Alpine rose leaf-miner moth adults resting ...

The female moths don't have legs or wings, so they can never venture far from their cocoons. After mating, they return to the cocoon and hatch their larvae. And when the young hatch, they immediately ...

Like all of its kind, the Atlas moth begins life as a caterpillar. By the time it starts to spin its cocoon, the Atlas caterpillar is more than five inches long, and only a few weeks away from its ...