(ANIMAL SCIENCE) There’s a new bigwig in the rainforest—literally. A rare yellow-colored caterpillar of the flannel moth species in the Amazon has been nicknamed the “Donald Trump Caterpillar.”
The peculiar creature bears a shocking resemblance to the golden do of the 2016 Presidential candidate himself, yet the caterpillar’s blonde mane actually consists of venomous setae that can cause serious skin irritations. So don’t touch this fuzzy insect, or “you’re fired!” Continue reading for more on this bigwig bug’s story. — Global Animal
Discovery News, Jennifer Viegas
A recently videotaped caterpillar bears an uncanny resemblance to bigwig Donald Trump‘s hair.
The insect, a rare yellow-colored caterpillar of the flannel moth, now has the nickname “Donald Trump Caterpillar.”
Wildlife photographer Jeff Cremer and conservation biologist Phil Torres spotted the caterpillar in an Amazon rainforest, according to a Daily Mail report. The two men run photography tours from Posada Amazonas, a 30-bed rainforest lodge in Peru.
As you can hear in the video, they didn’t know what to think of this creature when they first saw it. (In Spanish, someone at the end says, “What IS that?”)
Torres told the Daily Mail, “I’ve seen some bizarre looking caterpillars in my time of working in the field, but this was definitely the weirdest one I’ve ever seen. I wasn’t sure what I was looking at at first; it was this big yellow fuzzy thing.”
Cremer added, “On these tours we take tourists and photographers into the Amazon and point out cool and unusual things for them to photograph. We have been leading photo tours together for two years and have never seen anything as strange as this.”
The caterpillar’s “hair” actually consists of setae, which are long, fine silky appendages that, in this case, can cause serious skin irritations. If an unlucky person tries to grab one, they will get a handful of venom, released when the setae poke into skin. Like a bee sting, the injuries can be painful but, for most, are not life threatening.
As for the resemblance to the NYC real estate mogul’s hair, Torres said, “We put the picture on our Twitter and Facebook page and immediately people started comparing it to Donald Trump.”
He continued, “When we show people the image some don’t even know what it is, some think it’s a mammal others a bird or some have said a plant.”
“But to us and most of the people who’ve seen it, it’s Donald Trump’s toupee — left on a leaf in the Amazon.”
More Discovery News: http://news.discovery.com/animals/insects/rare-caterpillar-resembles-donald-trumps-hair-130502.htm
