As funny as this is, as someone who has met a European badger, all I can say is at least the American one has the decency not to hide the fact that it will tear your kidneys out via your toes if you so much as look at it funny.
ahh i actually havent ! at first i thought you were actually talking about a CATERPILLAR that looks like a snake, and said cocoon on accident (specifically the caterpillar of the hemeroplanes triptolemus, or snake-mimic hawk moth)
but it TURNS OUT theres a species of butterfly that takes it way further, to the point where all the other caterpillars are like “is this really fuckin necessary”
its the chrysalis of the daring-owl butterfly ! a species thats found in trinidad and spends a good portion of its young adult life trying to convince other things that its not actually completely helpless
LOOK at the detail thats gone into this though- i cant even imagine the journey this look mustve taken, with lightly less-snakelike chrysalises being eaten over time again and again until youve got something with definable eyes and scales
apparently if disturbed theyll also rock violently back and forth, furthering the idea that this is a very dangerous pitviper with the tiniest body imaginable
the adult butterflies are much less exciting but honestly they dont need to be with a history like that a+ bug
can you fucking imagine the first guy to find one of those things though like there’s just this beautifully detailed, vibrating thing in the jungle that looks almost entirely like a snake head but is not. who made that thing. why the fuck. i’d lose my goddamn mind.
sparksoffandommagic 