"A female digger wasp not only lays her egg in a caterpillar so that her larva can feed on it, but carefully guides her sting into each ganglion of the prey’s central nervous system, so as to paralyse it but not kill it. This way, the meat keeps fresh. It is possible the prey might be aware of being eaten alive from inside but unable to move a muscle to do anything about it."

(Richard Dawkins, River Out of Eden)

Is nature really so barbaric and callous? The digger wasp is but one example of the indifference of nature and evolution. But is it all so cruel? The natural world contains astonishing beauty and in this Blog I want to highlight some amazing evolutionary stories and share my awe and passion for one of the most important theories ever conceived by mankind.

Wednesday, 26 November 2014

A caterpillar that Mimics a Snake

 The Elephant Hawk-Moth Caterpillar, the Larva of the Elephant Hawk-Moth has developed a rather effective survival mechanism.


When startled by a predator the caterpillar withdraws its long trunk-like nose, creating a slightly more bulbous head shape. The large eye-like markings on either side of its head then give the impression of a much more imposing creature to scare off predators. 
This creature bears a resemblance to a snake.





A combination of the snake like eyes and face shape is often enough to ward of predators, which would usually be birds. If the caterpillar is mistaken for a poisonous snake, birds will most likely leave it alone.







It is easy to see how this mechanism of mimicry has a huge selective advantage.




Can you see the resemblance to this snake?




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