For Pokémon GO information on this species, see the game's section.
← #009: Blastoise	Pokémon	#011: Metapod →
This article is about the species. For a specific instance of this species, see Caterpie (disambiguation).

Caterpie Worm Pokémon キャタピー Caterpie #010 Images on the Bulbagarden Archives
Type Bug
Abilities Shield Dust Run Away Hidden Ability
Gender ratio     50% male, 50% female	Catch rate 255 (43.9%)
Breeding Egg Group Bug Hatch time 3855 - 4111 steps
Height 1'00" 0.3 m	Weight 6.4 lbs. 2.9 kg
Base experience yield 53 Gen. I-IV 39 V+	Leveling rate Medium Fast
EV yield Total: 1 1 HP 0 Atk 0 Def 0 Sp.Atk 0 Sp.Def 0 Speed
Shape	Footprint
Pokédex color   Green	Base friendship 70
External Links On Smogon Pokédex: Generation I Generation II Generation III Generation IV Generation V Generation VI Generation VII Artwork on Bulbagarden Archives

Caterpie (Japanese: キャタピー Caterpie) is a Bug-type Pokémon introduced in Generation I.

It evolves into Metapod starting at level 7, which evolves into Butterfree starting at level 10.

Biology

 

Caterpie emitting a terrible stench

Caterpie is a Pokémon that resembles a green caterpillar with a yellow underside and teardrop-shaped tail. There are yellow ring-shaped markings down the sides of its segmented body, which resemble its eyes and are meant to scare off predators. Its most notable characteristic is the bright red antenna (osmeterium) on its head, which releases a stench to repel predators. Despite these features and its camouflage in green foliage, Caterpie is often preyed upon by Flying-type Pokémon. Its four tiny feet are tipped with suction cups, permitting this Pokémon to scale most surfaces with minimal effort.

Caterpie is easy to capture and grows quickly, making it ideal for new Trainers.

As Caterpie grow and develop over time, it will shed its skin many times before finally cocooning itself in thick silk. It can also spit this silk in order to entangle foes as seen in the anime. It has a voracious appetite, which drives it to eat a hundred leaves a day. It will even eat leaves bigger than itself. According to Pokémon Adventures, its favorite food is the Vermilion flower. Caterpie lives in temperate forests and jungles.

In the anime

Main series

 

Caterpie in the anime

Major appearances

Ash's Caterpie

Caterpie debuted in Pokémon Emergency!, where Ash encountered it in Viridian Forest. He caught it in Ash Catches a Pokémon, making Caterpie the first Pokémon he caught in the wild. It evolved into Metapod in the same episode after a battle with Team Rocket, and then into Butterfree during the following episode.

Caterpie also appeared in I Choose You!, which is set in a different continuity from the main series. It evolved into Metapod during a battle against Pinsir and later into Butterfree after a battle against Primeape.

Other

In The Dunsparce Deception, Bucky's Caterpie competed in a race with Dunsparce, but it ultimately lost due to its slow speed. It also helped him catch a Dunsparce of his own.

In Caterpie's Big Dilemma, Zander's Caterpie ate some of Dr. Gordon's enhanced Rare Candies and turned giant as a result. It eventually evolved into a Mothra-sized Butterfree before it reverted to its normal size.

In Butterfree and Me!, Ash befriended a Caterpie at Wayfarer Island after realizing it had yet to evolve, which reminded Ash of his own Caterpie. As a result, he helped Caterpie evolve into Metapod and then into Butterfree.

In Working My Way Back to Mew!, Goh caught a Caterpie. It has since made further appearances in Pokémon Journeys: The Series.

Minor appearances

In Bulbasaur and the Hidden Village, Melanie cared for a Caterpie. It reappeared in a flashback in Bulbasaur... the Ambassador!.

A Trainer's Caterpie appeared in Electric Shock Showdown.

In Battle Aboard the St. Anne, a Caterpie was aboard the St. Anne.

In Pokémon Fashion Flash, a Caterpie was on Scissor Street.

A Caterpie appeared in a fantasy in Dig Those Diglett!.

In The Ultimate Test, an image of Caterpie was used in the exams.

A Caterpie appeared in The Breeding Center Secret.

A Caterpie appeared in Clefairy Tales.

In Mewtwo Strikes Back, a Trainer's Caterpie was defeated by Mewtwo while it was serving Giovanni.

In In the Pink, Caterpie was one of the species seen on Pinkan Island turned pink by consuming the Pinkan Berry.

In Tracey Gets Bugged, multiple Caterpie were residents of Murcott Island.

Two Caterpie appeared in a flashback in Wherefore Art Thou, Pokémon?, one each under the ownership of Ralph and Emily.

A wild Caterpie appeared in Pikachu's Rescue Adventure.

In Illusion Confusion!, a Caterpie was one of the illusions composed by a group of Haunter and Gengar.

In For Crying Out Loud, multiple Caterpie were accidentally splashed by Wilhomena's Marill.

In Gettin' The Bugs Out, multiple Caterpie resided in the Azalea Gym. One Caterpie scared Misty by coming down the trees. Later on, they assisted in apprehending Team Rocket with silk.

In The Bug Stops Here, a Caterpie was chased away by Misty after she found it talking with Togepi.

In Carrying On!, a Caterpie was in Way Away Island's Pokémon Center.

A Caterpie appeared in Jessie's fantasy in Wings 'N' Things.

Multiple Caterpie appeared in Celebi: The Voice of the Forest. One of them appeared during the movie's opening intro, which was reused for Pokémon Heroes: Latios & Latias.

In Got Miltank?, a Caterpie was a resident in a Pokémon-exclusive oasis.

In For Ho-Oh the Bells Toll!, multiple Caterpie were protecting the Tin Tower after Team Rocket stole the Crystal Bells on the top floor.

In Talkin' 'Bout an Evolution, a Caterpie fell sick due to Team Rocket's experiments.

A Caterpie appeared in Camp Pikachu.

In Gonna Rule The School!, the Pokémon Trainers' School lent a Caterpie to the school's underage students for use in lessons.

A Caterpie appeared in Destiny Deoxys.

A Caterpie appeared in Hi Ho Silver Wind!.

A Caterpie appeared in The Green Guardian.

A Coordinator‘s Caterpie appeared in What I Did for Love!.

In Some Enchanted Sweetening!, two Caterpie were lured in by the Honey that Cheryl had slathered onto a tree. Additional Caterpie also appeared in a boss fantasy in the same episode, but said boss fantasy was cut from the dub due to it containing suggestive material.

A Caterpie appeared in The Grass-Type Is Always Greener!.

Two Caterpie appeared in An Angry Combeenation!.

A Caterpie appeared in Jessie's fantasy in One Big Happiny Family!.

A Caterpie appeared in One Team, Two Team, Red Team, Blue Team!.

Multiple Caterpie appeared in Coming Full-Festival Circle!.

In Genesect and the Legend Awakened, a Caterpie was in Pokémon Hills.

A Caterpie appeared in Kalos, Where Dreams and Adventures Begin!.

In Lumiose City Pursuit!, Mega-Mega Meowth Madness!, Day Three Blockbusters!, and Battling With a Clean Slate!, a Caterpie was a resident of Professor Sycamore's lab.

A Caterpie appeared in a flashback in Seeing the Forest for the Trees!.

In Lillie's Egg-xhilarating Challenge!, two Caterpie were playing in Lillie's garden. One of them reappeared in The Ol' Raise and Switch!.

A Caterpie appeared in a fantasy in Lulled to La-La Land!.

Multiple wild Caterpie appeared in Alola, Kanto!.

A Trainer's Caterpie appeared in Now You See Them, Now You Don't!.

A Caterpie appeared in Tasting the Bitter with the Sweet!.

A Trainer's Caterpie appeared in The Power of Us.

Four Caterpie appeared in Securing the Future!, with three under the ownership of different Trainers and the fourth being wild. They joined the rest of Alola in showering Necrozma with light so it could return to its true form.

In The Battlefield of Truth and Love!, a Caterpie watched Bewear and Stufful put on a performance in their hot springs.

A Trainer's Caterpie appeared in Exhibition Unmasked!.

In From Z to Shining Z!, a Trainer's Caterpie watched the battle between Ash's Pikachu and Tapu Koko.

Two Caterpie appeared in a flashback in Enter Pikachu!, with one of them being caught by a female Trainer.

Three Caterpie appeared in a video hologram in Legend? Go! Friends? Go!.

In A Snow Day for Searching!, Goh's Butterfree encountered a Caterpie while it was out looking for Cubone's bone.

A Trainer's Caterpie appeared in Caring for a Mystery!.

A Trainer's Caterpie appeared in A Festival Reunion!.

A Caterpie appeared in Trade, Borrow, and Steal!.

A Trainer's Caterpie appeared in That New Old Gang of Mine!.

A Caterpie appeared in Secrets of the Jungle.

In JN062, a Caterpie in seen in a video evolving all the way into Butterfree.

Pokédex entries

Pokémon Origins

 

Caterpie in Pokémon Origins

In File 1: Red, a Caterpie was seen in Professor Oak's introduction, while Red caught another, which was registered in his Pokédex. It evolved into Metapod before his Gym battle with Brock.

In File 3: Giovanni, two Caterpie were seen caged in the Rocket Hideout and Silph Co., respectively.

Pokémon Generations

 

Caterpie in Pokémon Generations

In The Adventure, Pikachu encountered and battled a Caterpie in Viridian Forest.

In the manga

 

Caterpie in Pokémon Adventures

The Electric Tale of Pikachu

Main article: Ash's Caterpie

Ash's Caterpie is the second wild Pokémon that Ash catches, being caught in Pikachu, I See You!. It evolves twice in Play Misty For Me—first into Metapod while Ash is showing it off to Misty, and then into Butterfree during his Gym battle against Misty.

Ash is not shown releasing his Butterfree in the manga, although it is not seen after Haunting My Dreams.

Magical Pokémon Journey

A Caterpie appeared in Tangela's Secret.

Pokémon Journeys: The Series

Goh caught a Caterpie in JNM03, just like he does in the anime.

Pokémon Adventures

Main article: Kitty

Caterpie debuted in a cameo in Bulbasaur, Come Home! as one of the Pokémon that escapes from Professor Oak's Laboratory. It also makes a cameo in The Secret of Kangaskhan.

A Caterpie appeared as a silhouette when Green talks about Mew in The Jynx Jinx.

A Caterpie appeared in As Gastly as Before. With the help of her fishing rod and Red's Pika, Yellow saved a Caterpie from its tree, which was targeted by a Fire attack. Caterpie then followed Yellow to Route 9, where she and Blue were training. It took Yellow a whole day to properly catch this Caterpie with a Poké Ball, but once she prevailed, Yellow welcomed Caterpie to her team and called it "Kitty". It then became one of Yellow's most useful Pokémon, whose string was commonly used to make floaters. However, in the battle against Lance, Yellow did not have a Pokédex, which she needed to stop her Pokémon from evolving. As a result, Kitty evolved into Metapod and then into Butterfree right afterwards.

A Caterpie was mentioned as one of the Pokémon Crystal had caught for Professor Oak in Three Cheers for Chikorita.

A Caterpie was one of the Pokémon Crystal fails to catch in Absolutely Azumarill.

A Caterpie appeared in The Last Battle XIII as one of the Pokémon sent to participate in the fight in Ilex Forest.

According to the Pokédex at the end of Volume 1, Red appears to have caught a Caterpie, which evolved into a Metapod and then a Butterfree.

Pokémon Gotta Catch 'Em All

Shu caught a Caterpie in Shu and Pikachu's Debut!. He uses it in various productive ways, mostly involving strange uses of its String Shot.

A Caterpie appeared in GDZ23.

A Caterpie appeared in GDZ48.

Pokémon Mystery Dungeon: Ginji's Rescue Team

Main article: Caterpie (Red and Blue Rescue Team)

In Pokémon Mystery Dungeon: Ginji's Rescue Team, Ginji saved a Caterpie from an attacking Ariados.

Pokémon Pocket Monsters

A Caterpie appeared in Catch That Pokémon Thief!!.

A Caterpie appeared in The Legendary Pokémon Appears!!.

A Caterpie appeared in Regain the Deserted Power Plant!.

A Caterpie appeared in Fierce Competition at the Pokémon Baseball Tournament!, where it was one of the Pokémon that took part in a baseball match. It was seen with Green during the game.

A Caterpie appeared in Pikachu's Birthday Party.

A Caterpie appeared in Demanding Tests at the Pokémon School!.

A Caterpie appeared in The Hardest Bug Pokémon Wins?!.

In the TCG

Main article: Caterpie (TCG)

Game data

NPC appearances

• Pokémon Mystery Dungeon: Caterpie is rescued in the first mission of the game. It is too young to be of any help to the rescue team but remains a strong fan throughout the game, even in its darkest hour.

Pokédex entries

Alternate games

Pokémon Pinball, Pokémon Trading Card Game (Base Set, Base Set 2, Legendary Collection)

Its short feet are tipped with suction pads that enable it to tirelessly climb slopes and walls.

Pokémon Trading Card Game (Neo Discovery)

For protection, it releases a horrible stench from the antennae on its head to drive away enemies.

Game locations

In side games

Held items

Stats

Base stats

Pokéathlon stats

Type effectiveness

Learnset

By leveling up

By TM/TR

Generation VIII Other generations: I - II - III - IV - V - VI - VII

TM   Move   Type   Cat.   Pwr.   Acc.   PP  TM82 Electroweb Electric Special 55 95% 15

Bold indicates a move that gets STAB when used by Caterpie Italic indicates a move that gets STAB only when used by an evolution of Caterpie Click on the generation numbers at the top to see TM moves from other generations

By breeding

By tutoring

By transfer from another generation

TCG-only moves

Side game data

Pokémon Pinball   Acquisition: Catch			Pokémon Trozei! Rarity: Common
Pokémon Mystery Dungeon Red Rescue Team and Blue Rescue Team   Body size: 1 Recruit rate: 10.2% Friend Area: Mist-Rise Forest Phrases 51%-100% HP I'll eat lots and grow big. 26%-50% HP This is so hard... My health is down to half. 1%-25% HP I can't keep up... I can't spit silk anymore... Level up I leveled up! Happy!
Pokémon Mystery Dungeon Explorers of Time, Explorers of Darkness, and Explorers of Sky Body size: 1 Recruit rate: 8.2% IQ group: A
Pokémon Rumble Attack ● Defense ● Speed ●●●			Pokémon Rumble Blast Attack ● Defense ● Speed ●●●
Pokémon Rumble Rush Walking Speed: 2.92 seconds Base HP: 46   Base Attack: 59 Base Defense: 40 Base Speed: 60
PokéPark Wii: Pikachu's Adventure PokéPark Pad entry: Caterpie fell out of the White Tree on the other side of the bridge in the Meadow Zone! Her favorite Attraction is Bulbasaur's Daring Dash.
PokéPark 2: Wonders Beyond Strong: Weak: PokéPark Pad entry: Their steps are slow, but they are quite aggressive and hate to lose. They are second to none in spirit.
Pokémon Battle Trozei Bug Attack Power: ★★★★★			Pokémon Shuffle Bug Attack Power: 30 - 85  5 #747 Flash Mob Increases damage when there are more Pokémon with the same type in the puzzle area.
Pokémon GO Base Stamina: 128 Base Attack: 55 Base Defense: 55 Egg Distance: N/A* Buddy Distance: 1 km Evolution Requirement:  12 Fast Attacks: Bug Bite, Tackle Charged Attacks: Struggle
New Pokémon Snap Photodex entry #011 This eager eater consumes leaf after leaf while hiding in tall grass. When Caterpie senses danger, it exudes a horrible odor from the antenna on its head to protect itself.

Evolution

Unevolved Caterpie  Bug

Level 7 →

First evolution Metapod  Bug

Level 10 →

Second evolution Butterfree  Bug  Flying

Sprites

Generation I   Red Blue   Yellow   Red Green     Front Back   Front Back   Front Back

Generation II   Gold   Silver   Crystal         Front Back   Front Back   Front Back

Generation III   Ruby Sapphire   Emerald   FireRed LeafGreen         Front Back   Front Back   Front Back

Generation IV   Diamond Pearl   Platinum   HeartGold SoulSilver         Front Back   Front Back   Front Back

Generation V   Black White   Black 2 White 2     Front Back   Front Back

Generation VI   X Y   Omega Ruby Alpha Sapphire     Front Back   Front Back

Generation VII   Sun Moon   Ultra Sun Ultra Moon     Front Back   Front Back

 For other sprites and images, please see Caterpie images on the Bulbagarden Archives.

Trivia

• Caterpie was both the first Pokémon to be caught and the first Pokémon to evolve in the anime.
• Caterpie shares its category with Wurmple and Snom. They are known as the Worm Pokémon.
• Until the release of Pokémon Platinum, when it became able to learn Bug Bite, Caterpie was unable to do anything to a Ghost type except struggling and lowering its Speed. It shares this trait with its evolution, Metapod. This is also true for Weedle, and its evolution, Kakuna, against Steel types before Pokémon Platinum was released.
  • Due to this, it was impossible to complete a Generation I game using only Caterpie or Metapod, since Struggle couldn't hit Ghost types at the time.
• In the anime and in Pokémon Adventures, Caterpie holds the record as the Pokémon who takes the least time to evolve twice, taking only one episode in the anime and one chapter in Pokémon Adventures.
  • Poliwag and Togepi also share this record, but in Pokémon Adventures only.
• Prior to Generation VI, Caterpie's shape was .
• In Ash Catches a Pokémon, when Caterpie evolves into Metapod, the process was similar to a real caterpillar going into pupation. Later episodes show Caterpie evolving like the rest of the Pokémon do.
• Caterpie is tied with Weedle, Magikarp, Igglybuff, Carvanha, Attack Forme Deoxys, and Stonjourner for having the lowest Special Defense stat of all Pokémon.

Origin

Caterpie seems to be based on a caterpillar, particularly the Asian swallowtail, eastern tiger swallowtail, or spicebush swallowtail due to its green body, yellow eyespots, and red osmeterium. The tip of its tail resembles the horn that many species of hawk moth larvae have on their rear ends.

Name origin

Caterpie may be a corruption of caterpillar.

In other languages

Language Title Meaning  Japanese キャタピー Caterpie From キャタピラー kyatapirā  French Chenipan From chenille and pan; also a pun on chenapan  Spanish Caterpie Same as English/Japanese name  German Raupy From Raupe  Italian Caterpie Same as English/Japanese name  Korean 캐터피 Caterpie Same as Japanese name  Cantonese Chinese 綠毛蟲 Luhkmòuhchùhng From 綠 luhk and 毛毛蟲 mòuhmòuhchùhng  Mandarin Chinese 綠毛蟲 / 绿毛虫 Lǜmáochóng From 綠 / 绿 lǜ and 毛毛蟲 / 毛毛虫 máomáochóng

[hide]More languages  Bulgarian Катерпи Katerpi Transcription as English/Japanese name  Hebrew קטרפי Caterpy Transcription of English name  Hindi कटेरपी Caterpie Transcription of English/Japanese name  Lithuanian Katerpis From English name  Russian Катерпи Katerpi Transcription of English/Japanese name  Thai คาเตอร์ปี Khatoepi Transcription of Japanese name

Related articles

• Ash's Caterpie
• Kitty
• Caterpie (Red and Blue Rescue Team)

External links

• Article on Wikipedia

← #009: Blastoise

Pokémon

#011: Metapod →

This Pokémon article is part of Project Pokédex, a Bulbapedia project that aims to write comprehensive articles on each Pokémon as a species.