Science Diary: Caterpillars - Cryptic: The Pulse of the Planet daily radio program offers free legal online mp3 downloads, exploring the world of sound in nature, culture and science, with audio adventures, world music, extraordinary sound portraits, science diaries, and nature ring-tones; an amazing sonic experience.



Airdate: Oct 27, 2008
Scientist: Grant Gentry

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 Insects ,Poisonous ,Predators ,caterpillars ,animals


Science Diary: Caterpillars - Cryptic

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Caterpillars are a tasty temptation for quite a few predators and they have evolved a suite of feisty protective measures.
Transcript:

music; ambience: morning rainforest, Tirimbina, Costa Rica, birds, insects

Its called Tarjon. And the cool thing about it is its got these really sticky hairs. The hairs are covered in little hooks like Velcro or something. So when a predator like a big ant grabs it and starts to chew, these hairs work into its mandibles, its jaws and joints and just freeze them shut. So its a really effective defense. Therell very well defended.

Caterpillars eat more plants than any other creatures. And lots of creatures want to eat them. So whats a caterpillar to do? Welcome to Pulse of the Planets Science Diaries, a glimpse of the world of science from the inside. Grant Gentry and Lee Dyer investigate the crucial role that caterpillars play in the rainforests of central America. To defend themselves from predators, caterpillars have adopted numerous strategies, including being cryptic.

There is a paradigm that if youre brightly colored you are probably toxic or distasteful. But some of the most toxic caterpillars Ive ever worked with, for example the clearwing butterflies, many caterpillars of the clearwing butterflies are just little green guys. Theyre really cryptic; they dont, you know, they dont have any red or black or any flashy colors on them. And theyre extremely toxic. Something thats cryptic blends in with the surroundings really well, and it can be visually cryptic, where you look just like your background whether you look like dead leaves when you tend to perch on dead leaves, or you look like a fresh leaf and youre always feeding on that fresh leaf. So you blend in really well. Or you could be behaviorally cryptic, where you dont move or you tend to mimic the movement of the things around you, so its very difficult to see you.

Well hear more about caterpillars in future programs.

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Science Diary: Caterpillars - Cryptic