| You're neither unnatural, nor abominable, nor mad; you're as much a part of what people call nature as anyone else; only you're unexplained as yet you've not got your niche in creation. Radclyffe Hall in The Well of Loneliness Some swallowtails mimic butterflies that are distasteful - benefitting from their immunity from predators, even though they aren't poisonous themselves. The memory in a bird's brain of a butterfly with the same colors is enough for them to avoid the swallowtail. The deceptive behavior of the adult starts during their immature stage as caterpillars, although the strategy is far different. The larvae of the giant swallowtail (Papilio cresphontes) look like bird droppings on leaves and branches, a close enough camouflage with crusty white patches on a lumpy brown body, to keep birds at a distance. In addition to looking like bird poop, just in case that's not enough to deter a predator, the swallowtail caterpillar has two bright orange horns that emit a foul odor when threatened. The transformation from a smelly blob to a graceful glider is one of the most miraculous, yet commonplace happenings each spring in backyards, fields, and woods.
The impossible possibility that a man or even a beast might turn into some wholly different creature seems to fascinate something buried deep in human nature.Joseph Wood Krutch in The Great Chain of Life |
