Dancing caterpillars put off predators

Caterpillars have been spotted 'dancing' to put off predators as they eat their way through a leaf.

Published: 7:00AM BST 10 Aug 2009

All six bugs reared up with their back legs in the air to make themselves more imposing to potential predators, and look just like they're dancing.

The sight was captured by keen amateur photographer Desmond Cannon in the back garden of his home in Brae, County Wicklow, Ireland.

Mr Cannon, 46, was playing football in his garden with his nine year old son James when the youngster spotted the birch sawfly larvae.

Mr Cannon, a medical sales rep, fetched his camera and macro lens.

He then spent an hour snapping away at the bugs, which measured less than one centimetre each, as they ate their way through the silver birch leaf.

Mr Cannon said: "My son is very observant and he called me over to have a look after he spotted the caterpillars.

"I was about to flick them away from the tree when they started to rear up and perform for me.

"It was incredible to see them rear up like this.

"You don't see many butterflies around these days so I was delighted to get pictures of the butterflies of the near future.

"They put on an amazing performance for about an hour.

"When I started taking pictures they had barely touched the leaf but by the end it was virtually all gone."

Mr Cannon took the sequence of shots with a Canon 50d camera.

Geoff Read, head of reptiles and inverterbrae at Marwell Wildlife, near Winchester, Hants, said the behaviour was perculiar to sawfly larvae.

He said: "It is a defence mechanism. If you go too near them they rear up like this to try and scare off predators.

"It is only this family of caterpillars that do this - it's incredible to see."

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/howaboutthat/6001083/Dancing-caterpillars-put-off-predators.html