Families Turn a Holiday Outing Into a Caterpillar Hunt in Beijing

While many families in China spent the Golden Week holiday visiting tourist attractions, some visitors to a wildlife park in Beijing took part in a very different activity: hunting invasive caterpillars.

Beijing Wildlife Park has invited visitors to search for fall webworm larvae, an invasive species that can damage more than 300 types of plants, including crops and fruit trees.

The park has given the caterpillars an unusual nickname — the “forest food monster” — and turned the pest-control effort into a holiday competition.

Visitors first receive a short lesson on how to identify the larvae. They are then given disposable gloves, plastic containers and chopsticks before heading into the park to search for the insects.

The competition began on September 28 and quickly attracted thousands of participants. By October 5, about 2,077 people had collected more than 310,000 caterpillars with a combined weight of 47.65 kilograms.

The heaviest collections can win prizes, including as many as 10 tickets to the wildlife park. The unusual competition has also become a way for families to involve children in learning about invasive species and the impact they can have on plants.

The fall webworm is native to North America and can produce several generations each year. Beijing is currently experiencing significant damage from the year’s third generation of larvae, according to information cited by Reuters.

One 35-year-old participant, identified by the surname Cui, said the activity was meaningful because it encouraged children to become interested in the problem while giving families something unusual to do together during the holiday.

What began as a response to an invasive pest has therefore become an unexpected family activity — combining environmental awareness, outdoor exploration and a little competition.

Source: Reuters, October 5, 2026