Though the squirrels have long kept their title as Stanford’s most infamous furry animal, a new fuzzy menace has appeared as prime challenger — the caterpillar. According to grounds keeping officials, Stanford’s caterpillar presence has reached an unusual height this year.

“There are a lot more this year than there have been in the last eight years,” said Bruce Aizawa, a grounds supervisor for Facilities Operations. “They’re cyclical, their life cycles. No one really knows what affects that cycle.”

Karen Stidd, horticultural support supervisor for Facilities Operations, said that natural cycles usually keep the caterpillars in check.

“Usually in the natural environment there are plenty of naturally occurring predators and parasites that keep them in check,” she said. “For some reason, there is an unusually high outbreak this year on the campus, and we aren’t sure why.

“There are natural cycles in insect populations, and this may be the main reason,” she added. “Another possibility is that all the construction on campus has caused populations of natural controls, such as birds and beneficial insects, to decline.”

The creatures seen around campus are larvae that will eventually become moths, most commonly the tussock moth. Their eggs hatch in February, when they move to trees to find food. Soon, the caterpillars will form cocoons and are expected to hatch by June.

On a weekly basis, employees have been monitoring oak trees, the most common habitat for these particular caterpillars. However, employees said they not support taking chemical action against the insects.

“Our philosophy here is not to use harmful pesticides for a couple of reasons,” Aizawa said. “We don’t want to put those into the environment and the types available will also kill any beneficial insects that will help us with this problem. We’ll only address specific issues as they come up.”

Manager of Facilities Operations Herbert Fong said that a number of people have expressed concern about the caterpillar presence, and that the University is using alternative options to pesticide.

“[We’ve received] several complaints and we have been monitoring and working to remove them from structures when they migrate onto buildings and trees trunks to pupate,” said Fong. “We have practiced an integrated pest management program on campus for over twelve years, during which we do not apply pesticides but rather use alternative measures such as washing off and reducing egg masses.”

The University plans to destroy the cocoons before they hatch, workers said.

“What we try to do afterward, when they’re in their cocoon stage in the winter is we try to power wash them off with a hose,” Aizawa said. “By doing this, we’ve killed them and they won’t be able to go into the moth stage.”

Stidd said that soon, the caterpillars will no longer be a problem.

“The good news is that the caterpillars are beginning to pupate,” she said. “In a few weeks they will be gone. Moths will emerge from the cocoons and lay eggs which will not hatch until next spring.”

Students have largely expressed overwhelming disgust with the caterpillars on campus, noting that the problem is especially conspicuous this year.

“This is my senior year, and the caterpillars have never been this bad,” said David Lofton. “I had been getting annoyed about running into them around campus on my way to class, but the last straw was when I saw one crawling up my wall in my off-campus apartment, about two hours after I had gotten home. I try to stomp on as many as I can, because there are so many this year.”

A number of students have even created Facebook groups to express their disdain for the insects. Freshman Ryan Noon said that he created his group because of a series of unfortunate personal experiences with the caterpillars.

“I understand they’re necessary for our amazing northern California forest ecosystem, but if you get in my hair and you’re going to become a moth, then don’t expect warm relations with me,” he said. “I think we can respect these caterpillars’ right to live, while at the same time cursing their existence in a public forum. Pretty much the worst experience of my life was biking around and having a caterpillar go in my mouth when I wasn’t looking.”

Freshman Betty Pham said that she started her group because of the impossibility to go near trees without being attacked by caterpillars.

“I started the group after I got caterpillared from above for the third time,” she said. “It was a beautiful day, and I had been biking merrily along after a great chem lecture when disaster struck — I ran into one of the hairy Stanford tree ornaments. In class, the TA in front of me had two crawling around on his collar, and after I ran into one, that was the last straw.”

Other students, however, felt that the growth in anti-caterpillar Facebook groups was excessive.

“I don’t see why it’s such a big deal and why all of these Stanford kids are so afraid of the natural world,” said freshman Alex Coley, creator of a rival “Save the Caterpillars!” group. “We pride ourselves in environmental consciousness and progressive green technology but apparently most of the student body is afraid of the natural things around us. Are you serious — Stanford isn’t that much of a bubble is it?”

Freshman Javier Oliver said that he didn’t like the caterpillars, which he referred to as “stealth ninjas,” but felt that students should just wait out their presence.

“They are annoying, but they are also part of nature,” he said. “Just because we sit on them and they get on our clothes doesn’t mean Grounds Services needs to exterminate them. They’re not poisonous, they don’t bite, in fact, they are kind of cool looking. They’ll be gone on their own soon enough.”