Larva

life cycles · insects · transformation · nature

Not the same as baby. A larva is a young animal that looks totally different from what it will become as an adult. For example, a caterpillar is a larva that eventually becomes a butterfly, and a tadpole is a larva that becomes a frog.

Goes through metamorphosis. After the larval stage, animals go through a special change called metamorphosis. During this transformation, the larva's body completely reorganizes into its adult form, which can take days, weeks, or even months depending on the species.

Lots of animals have larvae. Many different animals have a larval stage, including insects like beetles and butterflies, some spiders, amphibians like frogs and salamanders, and ocean creatures like jellyfish.

Living and eating. Larvae often spend their time eating and growing as much as possible because they need energy for their transformation. A caterpillar larva might eat hundreds of times its own weight in leaves before it becomes a butterfly.

Different from direct development. Some animals skip the larval stage entirely and are born looking like tiny versions of their parents. This is called direct development, and it happens with most mammals, birds, and some reptiles.