mostly, in this stage all they do is eat. when the egg hatches, the caterpillar will start his work and eat the leaf they were born onto. this is really important because the mother butterfly needs to lay her eggs on the type of leaf the caterpillar will eat – each caterpillar type likes only certain types of leaves. since they are tiny and can not travel to a new plant, the caterpillar needs to hatch on the kind of leaf it wants to eat. caterpillars need to eat and eat so they can grow quickly. when a caterpillar is born, they are extremely small. when they start eating, they 