A caterpillar recently discovered in Peru behaves unlike any other known caterpillar.
The critter was spotted by Dr. Joe Hanson, the creator and host of the YouTube channel "It's OK to be Smart." Hanson, along with entomologist Aaron Pomerantz and guide Pedro Lima, were filming in the Peruvian Amazon when they came across the creature.
According to Hanson, this is the first known example of a caterpillar building itself a mobile shelter, which is why it has earned the name of the hermit caterpillar.
While they were filming, the team noticed that leaf litter on the rainforest floor was moving. Upon closer inspection, they realized a big, fat caterpillar was inside, dragging along a home it had built out of leaves.
Caterpillars are masters of disguise, but this one was something special. When Hanson picked it up, it retreated inside its protective tube. If they hadn't seen it moving, they probably would have walked straight past.
The caterpillar had cut and glued itself a custom suit of camouflage leaf armor, which it drags behind itself like a caterpillar version of a hermit crab. The only difference is hermit crabs move into homes another animal has left behind whereas this caterpillar made its own from scratch.
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