this post was submitted on 27 Nov 2024
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Science Memes

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the mad hatter (mander.xyz)
submitted 3 months ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]
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[–] [email protected] 27 points 3 months ago (1 children)

Stupid caterpillar ... it thinks wearing fancy head gear make it look sexier, more important or significant ... what dumb animal would do that?

[–] [email protected] 12 points 3 months ago (1 children)

Stupid sexy caterpillar!

[–] [email protected] 3 points 3 months ago

Taking off their molted head like it's wearing nothing at all ... (caterpillar booty shake) .... like nothing at all!

[–] [email protected] 16 points 3 months ago (1 children)

They wear their old heads, because they don't have access to dead salmon.

[–] [email protected] 10 points 3 months ago

Ah, the old Lemmy metaaroo!

[–] [email protected] 15 points 3 months ago (4 children)

That doesn’t make sense, caterpillars don’t mate. So why have a display like this? Or does this scare off predators somehow?

[–] rowrowrowyourboat 41 points 3 months ago (2 children)

But why undertake this elaborate millinery? One study published in 2016 investigated this question by holding trials involving the caterpillars and their natural predators — spiders and stink bugs. The researchers found that attacks on larvae with a stack of headcases took more than 10 times longer than attacks on larvae that had had their stack removed. They found that the empty head capsules acted as a false target for predators and could also be used to deflect the piercing rostrum of a predator.

https://www.livescience.com/animals/moths/gum-leaf-skeletonizer-the-venomous-mad-hatterpillar-that-wears-its-old-heads-like-a-crown

[–] [email protected] 9 points 3 months ago

That was my first guess, false target. Like a lizard that loses the tail, only less involved. Evolution ends up with odd solutions, but if it helps favor a trait by leading to survival, it's good enough. It could have just as easily been as someone else suggested, something that was passed on but not selected against either. Not all evolved things have to do with survival, some just are there.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 3 months ago

Oh really cool, thank you!

[–] [email protected] 7 points 3 months ago (1 children)

Put a stack of decaying skin on your head and see how appetizing you look to predators

[–] [email protected] 3 points 3 months ago

Yeah, fair. Maybe it’s just like that lizard that squirts blood out of its eyes and predators just go “EESH WTF”

[–] [email protected] 6 points 3 months ago (1 children)

Maybe it does nothing and evolution just never selected against it.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 3 months ago

It’s possible. Seems like it would at least change visibility to predators though. Or make it harder for the caterpillar to hide. Interesting!

[–] [email protected] 9 points 3 months ago (1 children)

What do you do with your old faces?

[–] [email protected] 2 points 3 months ago

No, I steal other people's faces.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 3 months ago

Apparently it is venomous as well!