Josh Clark

There's so many different species of caterpillar.

Because, again, we're talking about moths and butterflies.

They're not just all the same thing.

That they've developed all sorts of really interesting means of defense.

Yeah.

One of the ways they say the best defense is shooting your poop out.

And there's a type of caterpillar that does that.

I think it's the silver-spotted skipper.

And skipper is basically a type of butterfly.

And it shoots its waste called frass, its poop, as far as five feet from itself in order to keep predators from being able to track it back to its source.

If you're really good at jumping, that's what they say to you.

Yeah.

Which any even the dumbest of birds can be like there's a caterpillar around here.

I know.

Caterpillars have tremendous self-control.

They do.

We mentioned that they have spinnerets, that they can spin silk.

And they use it to great effect in all sorts of different ways, including defense.

Apparently, some kinds of caterpillars will, like, spin a little thing of silk that they'll attach to the leaf they're on.

And when a predator comes, they just jump off.