Lauren Fuge
A baby hummingbird that looks like a dangerous caterpillar has been found in the rainforests of Panama.
The newly hatched bird had long, fluffy feathers all down its back – which had never been seen before on baby hummingbirds.
These feathers visually mimic the hairs of some caterpillar species, which can cause painful skin reactions, inflammation, headaches, fever and nausea in humans. Other bird species also mimic these hairs, including the fluffy chicks of the South American Cinereous Mourner (Laniocera hypopyrra). Since hummingbird chicks are vulnerable to predators, the research team which found the chicks suggest that the fluffy hairs may serve to warn off other creatures looking for a feed.
They also noticed that the nest was covered in the hairy-looking seeds of the Balsa tree (Ochroma pyramidale), which may mean that the chick is also using the feathers to camouflage. The chick is a White-necked Jacobin (Florisuga mellivora), a neotropical hummingbird species, and it was found in a nest in the Soberanía National Park in Panama by researchers from the University of Colorado Boulder and the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute. The discovery is published in the journal Ecology.