I saw an ant carrying another live ant. Was the carried ant receiving help or going to be eaten?
Kathleen Speight (age eight), Derrygonnelly, Co Fermanagh
The ants were moving nest and the older workers were carrying the young workers to the new one.
We discovered a goat moth caterpillar, Cossus cossus, beside a stream near our house and rescued it in case it got eaten. What does it need to spin a cocoon?
Phil Heenan, Carlow.
The goat moth caterpillar spends two to four years burrowed in the heart wood of a tree, usually willow. It forms a cocoon from wood dust and its own silk and pupates on the ground.
I saw a very big caterpillar making a fast run across a newly cut lawn. More than two inches long and as thick as a man’s middle finger, in shades of brown with black lines in squares on its back. It kept stopping and shaking its head vigorously from side to side.
Ann Serff, Waterford.
It was the caterpillar of the elephant hawkmoth. When disturbed it retracts its snout into the eyespot region which swells up and the whole front sways menacingly from side to side.
Michael Viney welcomes observations at Thallabawn, Carrowniskey PO, Westport, Co Mayo. E-mail: viney@anu.ie. Include a postal address.