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The afternoon was quiet, the kind where sunlight spills like honey across the lawn, and the air hums with stillness. As I wandered through my backyard, something unusual caught my eye—a dark, coiled shape nestled among the blades of grass.
At first, I thought it was a discarded rope, left behind after some forgotten chore. But as I stepped closer, a flicker of movement made me freeze. Was it slithering? My pulse quickened—could it be a snake?
Hesitant but curious, I pulled out my phone, inching forward to solve the mystery. What I found wasn’t a snake at all, nor a rope, but something far more astonishing.
The Revelation: A Caterpillar Procession
Before me stretched a living chain—a single-file line of tiny caterpillars, each following the one ahead with perfect precision. There must have been over a hundred of them, moving in unison like a slow, deliberate train.
This strange and mesmerizing behavior, I later learned, is called a “caterpillar procession.” Certain species, like the pine processionary caterpillar, travel this way—nose to tail—guided by instinct and scent. The lead caterpillar lays down a silken trail laced with pheromones, and the others follow faithfully, a survival tactic that keeps them together and deters predators.
Nature’s Ingenious Design
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