Open Menu
AllLocalCommunitiesAbout
lotide
AllLocalCommunitiesAbout
Login

the mad hatter

⁨357⁩ ⁨likes⁩

Submitted ⁨⁨5⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago⁩ by ⁨fossilesque@mander.xyz⁩ to ⁨science_memes@mander.xyz⁩

https://mander.xyz/pictrs/image/edd63e62-2d88-4bae-94ce-362480f63dd9.png

source

Comments

Sort:hotnewtop
  • ininewcrow@lemmy.ca ⁨5⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

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

    source
    • blackbrook@mander.xyz ⁨5⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

      Stupid sexy caterpillar!

      source
      • ininewcrow@lemmy.ca ⁨5⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

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

        source
  • Rivalarrival@lemmy.today ⁨5⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

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

    source
    • Minarble@aussie.zone ⁨5⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

      Ah, the old Lemmy metaaroo!

      source
  • watersnipje@lemmy.blahaj.zone ⁨5⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

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

    source
    • Deceptichum@quokk.au ⁨5⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

      Image

      source
    • rowrowrowyourboat@sh.itjust.works ⁨5⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

      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.

      livescience.com/…/gum-leaf-skeletonizer-the-venom…

      source
      • watersnipje@lemmy.blahaj.zone ⁨5⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

        Oh really cool, thank you!

        source
    • tdawg@lemmy.world ⁨5⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

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

      source
      • watersnipje@lemmy.blahaj.zone ⁨5⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

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

        source
    • PapaStevesy@lemmy.world ⁨5⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

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

      source
      • watersnipje@lemmy.blahaj.zone ⁨5⁩ ⁨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!

        source
  • Bishma@discuss.tchncs.de ⁨5⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

    What do you do with your old faces?

    source
    • Ziglin@lemmy.world ⁨5⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

      No, I steal other people’s faces.

      source
  • kilroy@lemmy.world ⁨5⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

    Apparently it is venomous as well!

    source