EPOW - Ecology Picture of the Week

Explanation:  These two young boys are holding today's harvest of edible caterpillars.  We are in the remote village of Botuali, a half-day's trek through swamp forest south of Lac (Lake) Tumba in western Democratic Republic of the Congo, in the heart of the Congo River Basin in equatorial Africa.  Here, local foods include the few agricultural products grown on shifting cultivation plots, and the many plants and animals gathered from the rainforests.  

These are edible caterpillars known by their French name of "les chenilles."  In the Congo, this is a delicacy, eaten raw or cooked over fire until roasted and crunchy.  In the Congo, there are over 40 species of moth caterpillars that are gathered for food.  This particular species is one of the giant silk moths (farmily Saturniidae), Imbrasia ertli.

Les chenilles or edible caterpillars
of the Congo River Basin

The edible caterpillars likely belong to several butterfly species.  I was able to catalogue at least 10 species of tropical trees from which they are gathered.  Some of the trees are also valuable for timber but the villagers often do not cut them and maintain mature specimens to be able to continue to gather les chenilles.  The link between tree and caterpillar can be very tight.  

This is a good lesson in needing to maintain some mature forest trees for resources other than timber -- in this case, a valuable "non-timber forest product."  And the local villagers are the true experts in knowing which trees to conserve.  

Back in the city, les chenilles are sold in some restaurants, prepared more stewed than roasted.

Caterpillars stewed are lightly chewed ...

Michael Brown, Congo conservationist and president 
of Innovative Resources Management,
enjoying a hearty helping of les chenilles
at a restaurant in Kinshasa, D.R. Congo

Acknowledgments:  My hearty thanks to Michael Brown, George Akwah, and my other friends and colleagues of Innovative Resources Management and USDA Forest Service who helped organize and conduct the 2004 Congo Expedition.  My thanks also to Bill Oehlke, who offers a caterpillar identification service, for the caterpillar species identification.