Ladies and gentlemen, the award for best invertebrate mimicry goes to Hemeroplanes triptolemus for its masterful impersonation of a venomous snake!
Photo: Andreas Kay
Native to the rainforests of the Amazon, the snake mimic caterpillar turns into a rather unimpressive moth in the family Sphingidae, but in its larval stage it incorporates an astonishing survival tactic. It needs one too, as without a good defence system in place, sphinx moth caterpillars are essentially energy-rich ‘nom-nuggets’ presented on a bed of leafy greens for the jungle’s predators.
To avoid that fate, the larva of this moth expands and exposes its underside to mimic a snake’s head with black eyes and even light reflections.
Photo: Andreas Kay
It’s not an easy feat though. The caterpillar begins its defensive manoeuvre by throwing itself backwards and twisting its body to expose hidden shades of yellow, white and black on its underbelly. Then, it sucks in air through tiny holes in its sides (known as spiracles) and pumps them to the front of its body. Once the segments are inflated, the caterpillar is truly transformed, having taken on the form of a venomous snake complete with a diamond-shaped “face” and large, black eyes.
If the “deadly” (and rather costly) costume isn’t enough to deter a predator, such as a lizard or a bird, the caterpillar might also strike like a snake to enhance the effect.
Although deflection – a tactic involving using eyespots to draw predators’ attention away from the head – is not uncommon among animals, the snake mimic caterpillar’s false face is actually located on the same end as its real one.
“Deflection might not work well for a caterpillar because the caterpillar probably won’t survive if any part of its body gets pierced or ripped off by an attacker,” explains eyespot expert Dr Thomas Hossie. “This defence is all about intimidating or startling an attacker who will run (or fly) away instead of risk a lethal encounter with a snake.”
Photo: Andreas Kay
Photo: Reinaldo Aguilar
Photo: Andreas Kay
Interestingly, we also know of a moth that camouflages as a snake in its fully developed stage, and for which the price of this kind of disguise is also rather high energy-wise.
But this guy seems to beat everybody else in the animal kingdom in terms of sporting the best snake costume ever.
Do you love to do extreme sports like skydiving, rock climbing, snowboarding, and other crazy things? Then this may be the perfect adventure for you! This dangerous path is located on Mt. Huashun. It’s called the Plank Walk and is near Huayin in Shaanxi Province, which is about 120km east of Xi’an, China. It’s open to the public, and for a fee of $38.00 you too can risk your life by taking on this dangerous hike. If your mind isn’t going a little crazy yet, just wait until you see the pictures of this place! It’s unbelievable.
This is the beginning. Cliffside doesn’t even begin to explain what you are in for when you visit this place.
Which steep staircase would you choose?
It looks like all of them would be pretty difficult to climb.
This is called the Route of Boards. As you can see, each plank that you walk on is made of old boards resting on supports drilled into the rock.
Each plank is made up of 3 different boards, varying in condition and size. They are held together by large metal supports.
If you are feeling extra daring, for $12.00 you can climb up this metal ladder. With this adventure though, you do get 2 hooks that you can use to stabilize yourself into the mountain.
It is probably safe to say you may not want to look down while climbing the ladder.
Because this is located thousands of feet above sea level, the conditions aren’t always ideal. But if you have the opportunity and the willingness to try, a little fog won’t stop you.
As you can tell, some of the wood doesn’t match. They use what they can.
How do you think they managed to change the middle piece on this plank? Also, why is this person doing this in sandals?
Just looking at this gave me the chills. There is no way I would ever do this!
I think that bridge is the only thing that looks stable enough to cross.
While the Path of Boards may be for the more adventurous, there are other paths that are a lot more stable. You can still experience the atmosphere without risking your life quite as much.
That view is pretty spectacular.
Would you dare to walk on the Plank Walk? Because I am terrified of heights, there is no way I would do this! But I definitely have some people in my life that would be more than willing to give it a try.
