How shall I fitly meet thee, fellow caterpillar?
In this video, two stinging rose slug caterpillars (!) greet each other. These critters, which resemble spiky-haired punks, come from a family of moths called Limacodidae and are called slug caterpillars because, as you can see, they resemble slugs. Although they look otherwordly, stinging rose slug caterpillars can be found in backyards in eastern North America. Watch them slowly advance toward each other before touching heads. Left caterpillar is clearly the more aggressive one, pushing right caterpillar nearly out of the frame.
Their encounter comes to us from The Caterpillar Lab, a nonprofit educational outreach organization in Keene, New Hampshire. The Caterpillar Lab YouTube channel has a wealth of videos on these critters, including ones documenting different kinds of caterpillars encountering each other.
