I think I just found the Spider-Man of caterpillars…it shoots silk to climb surfaces or hang mid-air, and it uses its own body hair to build a cocoon. I’m waiting 8 months to see what it becomes!🐛🕸️ This is a dagger moth caterpillar…they get their name from the sharp, dagger-like hairs that stick out of their backs. They do sting though. Touching the black hairs = itchy rash bc the hairs are connected to poison glands (It’s just a protection mechanism so it can survive in nature). The craziest part is that it has an organ near its mouth that it excretes silk out of, so it weaves its path and climbs up surfaces a lot of other creatures can’t climb - and if it falls, it’s safe because it hangs onto the silk. (A.k.a. it’s Spiderman :P) They eat: maple, oak, birch trees (and more!). It chews pieces of bark from these trees (mixed with other materials like pieces of dried leaves and its own yellow hairs) to build a cocoon. Then inside that hairy sleeping bag it morphs into a pupa, where it stays dormant for 7-8 months before emerging as an adult winged being! To identify what this creature even was, I used the ‘Grow It!’ app and scanned a photo of it. When I got my ID and cool facts, I started tracking the experiment in the progress tracker! (The links to download on App Store and Google Play are in my bio) I honestly just love tiny creatures like this, so of course I can’t wait to witness the metamorphosis of a dagger moth! Are you excited too?!
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