VietNamNet Bridge – Making themselves invisible is the special ability of leaf insects in Vietnam. Below are pictures of leaf insects.

Leaf insects live in forests in northern provinces of Vietnam like Lao Cai, Hoa Binh, Ninh Binh, etc. They also appear in some Southeast Asian countries, in India and southern China.

Leaf insects use camouflage to take on the appearance of a leaf. They do this so accurately that predators often aren’t able to distinguish them from real leaves.

In some species the edge of the leaf insect’s body even has the appearance of bite marks.

To further confuse predators, when the leaf insect walks, it rocks back and forth, to mimic a real leaf being blown by the wind.


This insect looks exactly like a leaf.



It is very difficult to detect this leaf insect if it does not move.

Matured left insects can be 10cm long.

Fossils of leaf insects show that today leaf insects do not change much compared to their ancestors 47 million years ago.

Leaf insects are rare now and they are being threatened because forest is being narrowed.










Another threat is the habit of collecting strange insects.




Compiled by S. Tung