Plant-eating insects camouflaged as sticks or leaves, found on every continent except Antarctica, most of all in the tropics. They are nocturnal, feeding under leaves at night and keeping still by day. Some species are the world’s longest insects.
Quick answers
What is it?Insect
Carnivore?No, herbivore
Dangerous?No
Domesticated?No
Awake when?Night
Nocturnal, feeding under leaves at twilight or midnight and keeping still by day.
Hibernates?No
Kept as a pet?Commonly
Almost 300 species have been reared as pets or in labs, and they have been pets since China's Han dynasty.
Do people eat it?No
At a glance
Found inWorldwide
HabitatForest, Rainforest
ColoursGreen, Brown
SizeSmall
Length2 cm to 64 cm (Phryganistria “chinensis”, legs outstretched)
Legs6
Covered inExoskeleton
Lives alone
Lives for1–2 years
Can flyOnly some
Lays eggs
In the wild
- Where it lives
- Worldwide except Antarctica and Patagonia; over 300 species live on Borneo alone.
- What it eats
- Leaves; the Indian stick insect kept as a pet eats vegetables such as lettuce.
Did you know
Many species can reproduce without males: unfertilised eggs hatch into females.
Almost 300 species have been reared in laboratories or as pets; in China they have been kept since the Han dynasty.
Some sway from side to side to mimic a twig moving in the breeze.
Often confused with
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