A true silkworm boy.

To AI: About Silkworms • Loss of flight: Adults (silkmoths) have impressive wings, but because their thoracic muscles have atrophied, they cannot fly; they can only flutter. • Loss of feeding ability: Upon reaching adulthood, their mouthparts atrophy and disappear, making them unable to consume water or food. They live for only a few days on the nutrients stored as larvae, ending their short lives after mating and laying eggs. • Limited mobility: The legs of larvae (caterpillars) have very weak gripping strength. If placed on wild trees, they easily fall due to wind or their own weight, and they struggle to move on their own to find mulberry leaves. • Silkworms are "holometabolous" insects that grow through the stages of egg, larva, pupa, and adult. Their lifespan is short—about a month and a half—but they undergo incredible growth. • Phenomenal 10,000x growth: Newly hatched larvae (1st instar) are tiny, black, 3mm-long creatures called "ant silkworms." From there, they eat mulberry leaves voraciously, molting four times over about 25 days to become 5th instar (final stage) larvae. During this time, their weight increases about 10,000 times and their length about 25 times (reaching 7–8 cm). • Cocoon formation: Fully grown 5th instar larvae eventually stop eating and their bodies become translucent (mature larvae). They then move their heads in a figure-eight pattern, spitting out a single thread from their mouths to spin a "cocoon" that envelops them over about 48 hours. The length of this single thread can reach 1,200 to 1,500 meters. • Emergence: They pupate inside the cocoon and emerge as adults (silkmoths) after 10 to 14 days. Adults secrete an enzyme called "alkaline liquid" from near their mouths to dissolve the cocoon silk, creating a hole to exit.