Own among strangers: a caterpillar is able to imitate the sounds of birds

Insects are one of the most defenseless living creatures on our planet. They are the initial link in many food chains and serve as food for birds, mammals, amphibians, reptiles and even fish. Who only doesn’t eat them, poor things! Of course, with such a vast number of enemies, they simply need protective equipment to survive in a world full of dangers. Tasty and nutritious, but such helpless caterpillars become the desired prey for insectivorous birds. To protect themselves from danger or to get food, various animals use mimicry. This method of protection is to simulate other creatures or the surrounding space.

Biologists distinguish mimicry of color, form and sound. With color mimicry, the animal copies with its appearance the main color of the environment in which it lives. These are well-known examples of fur animals (hare, fox, squirrel, arctic fox, which molt, so that their skin matches the color of the environment). Mimicry forms are unusual examples of the coincidence of the external forms of animals, most often insects, with various branches, leaves, sticks, pebbles. The mimicry of sound is an imitation of the voices of other animals. Most successful of all, this method is implemented by birds. There are many examples of successful feathered onomatopoeia. But what American biologists have recently discovered is surprising and, at the same time, admiration for the entire scientific world.

The subject of the research was the caterpillar of the North American hawthorn, which can make quite loud noises when approaching danger. Biologists previously suggested that this was done to scare away birds. But, as American scientists recently found out, a caterpillar imitates the cry of insectivorous birds with such a sound, which they emit at the sight of danger. It turns out that the caterpillar makes a whistle, having heard that, the birds rush to hide from enemies and forget that they wanted to eat a juicy caterpillar. How do they manage to reproduce such loud sounds? Scientists have discovered that there are special holes on the caterpillar’s body through which it releases air with force. As a result of this trick, a sharp whistling sound is obtained.

Thus, the cute green caterpillar of the North American hawk managed to rub in confidence in its enemies. It accurately depicts the alarm of small insectivorous birds of various species that it excelled better than any other insect in this art.

It turns out that this type of caterpillar is not at all primitive creatures, the whole purpose of which is to eat as much green mass as possible. These organisms were not only capable of observing birds, but also of identifying causal relationships between audible sounds and the behavior of their enemies.