illuminating science

On a vaguely related note, I was watching a little caterpillar bungy jumping down from a tree at Uni the other day. It descended down on a silk thread it had spun, then was slowly working its way up. It was really quite impressive - it held onto the thread using a few of its middle legs, while using the front pair of its (many) legs to reach up and grab the silk. Then it would pull down hard, swing its body up and capture that thread it had been holding onto with its front legs in its second front legs. It then would wrap that thread into a little ball which it would work down to its middle. Then, it would repeat the whole thing and move a little higher. It was really quite incredible, and it moved relatively fast up the thread.

Then, after it had gone about one metre up (I was still watching, enthralled!) from out of nowhere, this bird swoops down right in front of my face with its beak wide open, scoops up the caterpillar and is gone, leaving me startled out of my wits. I’m sure there’s a moral to this story, but I can only salute this poor, brave, little caterpillar.

Also, the title of my last post (”Don’t like snails? Try caterpillars!“) was supposed to be about using caterpillars to get rid of snails in the garden, perhaps with a slightly ironic twist given that both eat leaves…Well, you get the idea. Anyway, it was not suggesting that you should eat caterpillars if French food doesn’t agree with you. Although, if you’re really into insects try scrolling down a little way on this page! Mmm-mm!