Let me start by saying this: I'm not a scientist! I don't even play one on TV! I'm just a girl, writing this post, asking you to look at this crazy thing that I've only just become aware of.
Behold the Hemeroplanes triptolemus (that's science talk for cool caterpillar that looks like a Viper Snake)
EXCEPT IT DOESN'T ALWAYS LOOK LIKE A SNAKE. Ok, let me break this down for people who are like me and don't really know anything about nature creatures.
When the caterpillar is chillin' it looks like...a caterpillar.
Or a stick!
But then this...
TURNS TO THIS.
A CATERPILLAR LOOKIN LIKE A FRIGGEN VIPER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! (Or at least, a viper whose lower half of their body has been chopped off.)
It like, turns itself upside down and puffs out its eyes and face and all of a sudden the harmless caterpillar will scare the bajeesus out of you because you're gonna think it's a dangerous snake.
Obviously I have questions. Like, what the fuck? And, how?
But also some deeper questions too. Like, by what means does this caterpillar know what a viper snake looks like? Have they met? Does the caterpillar remember? And if they've never met, is it just coincidence that it happens to look like a scary and dangerous snake? Or some kind of crazy instinct summoned from deep within their soul?
Obviously this is a case of X-TREME evolution. Or magic, idk. TBH, my brain is running around in circles just trying to comprehend all of it.
And obviously, not only does it occasionally look like a snake, but like all caterpillars, it shape shifts again into its final form. This one turns into this moth. Pretty!
h/t this tweet that changed my life