Question

So, what does a caterpillar do when it's in the cocoon growing its wings? Is it sleeping? In a coma? Still awake? How come they don't teach these things in school?? I remember learning about the polluted Chesapeake (btw, the drains here STILL run into the Chesapeake. Shouldn't that have been solved?), but NOT what a caterpillar is doing in there. According to Eric Carle's "The Very Hungry Caterpillar", they stay inside for more than two weeks. That's a long time. I want answers!