Wednesday, August 26, 2015

Canadian Tiger Swallowtail Caterpillar

 The Canadian tiger swallowtail caterpillar has one of the neatest defense mechanisms against predators: when the caterpillar senses a bird nearby it quickly inflates the front part of its body, making it resemble a snake's head.

It grows concentric yellow and black rings that look like a giant pair of eyes. The caterpillar also have an osmeterium, an orange, fleshy organ that emits foul-smelling terpenes to repel predators.  The combo between the osmeterium and the blow up fake snake head make this butterfly a super neat member of the animal kingdom.

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