Baby Hummingbird Appears to Mimic Caterpillar to Avoid Death
- Author: Laura Baisas
- Full Title: Baby Hummingbird Appears to Mimic Caterpillar to Avoid Death
- Type:
- Tags: #planet
- URL: https://www.popsci.com/environment/baby-hummingbird-caterpillar-predator/?utm_source=firefox-newtab-en-us
Highlights
- About 18 to 20 days later, they noticed that the egg had hatched. Surprisingly, the new baby hummingbird sported long, fluffy down feathers on its back. This plumage made the tiny bird look like a dangerous caterpillar. Some caterpillar species cover themselves with stinging hairs that can cause skin reactions and inflammation, and even headaches, nausea, and fever in humans. (View Highlight)
- Additionally, a bird called Cinereous mourner (Laniocera hypopyrra) is known for chicks that mimic toxic caterpillars. Keeping this species in mind, the team scoured the internet for photos of related humming bird species and some non-related hummingbird species to see how common these types of feathers are. Most of the other hummingbird species they looked at do not have these particular feathers, showing just how special they are. (View Highlight)
- The team also saw that the nest appeared to be covered in seeds from local balsa trees. These seeds are also hairy-looking and help camouflage the chick and it is possible that the feathers are used more for hiding the chick and not for making predators think they are caterpillars. However, they did observe the chick moving like some of the caterpillars do when a carnivorous wasp was nearby. Since White-necked jacobins build open cup-like nests in exposed tree branches near the ground, these strategies might have evolved in this species over time. More long-term research is needed to support these hypotheses. (View Highlight)