'I just so happened to be there at the right place at the right time.' 'Not only is it rare to find the caterpillar, but you also have to hit it at the right time,' he says. (Related: ' 'Two-Headed Snake' Shocks Homeowner') A hawk moth caterpillar can live for 10 to 30 days, and it only spends a few days of that molting, which is the small window in which it can appear snake-like, DeAndrade says. Hawk moth caterpillars, like the Hemeroplanes triptolemus in this clip, are critically rare. If playing dead doesn't work in the face of danger, helmeted iguanas run away from predators on their hind legs. As one of the most biodiverse countries in the world, Costa Rica is home to more than 500,000 species, making up nearly four percent of species worldwide. Camouflaged ColorsĭeAndrade and his team have filmed 30 animals in somewhat controlled environments in preparation for the new season of Untamed, which celebrates Costa Rica's diverse wildlife species. In the clip, you can see the caterpillar munch a leaf, hang from foliage and-as DeAndrade is excited to say-excrete. The tour guides let the crew film the caterpillar for 15 minutes before escorting them away. When he got a little too close, the snake-like caterpillar felt his breath and jabbed at the air-the surprising, but harmless, strike sent DeAndrade reeling back. The sight of the bug sent him laughing and crying at the same time. 'The first time I saw it, I was in complete and utter disbelief,' DeAndrade says. As the crew members got closer to film it in 6K with their Hollywood-grade RED digital camera, the bug flared up and transformed into a 'snake.' The look is complete with eye-like spots, faux reptilian scales, and a convincing, serpentine curve.Īfter a 10-minute walk from the nearby ecolodge where DeAndrade was staying, the group found the caterpillar attached to a leaf. When startled, these crawlers can instantaneously transform into snake-like creatures, puffing out the front part of their bodies to rearrange their hidden yellow, white, and black spots. Specifically, they were on the hunt for a green morph of a hawk moth caterpillar that Stice had spotted previously.

Then, they took DeAndrade and his filming partner McKenzie Barney to see a hawk moth. After an hour of watching Brazilian wandering spiders, coatis, and snakes, Stice and another guide dropped off the other guests. (Related: get a behind-the-scenes look at the groundbreaking series)Īfter spending a day filming sharks, humpback whales, dolphins, manta rays, and 'charismatic megafauna' in Costa Rica's Osa Peninsula for the show's upcoming second season, DeAndrade ventured out into the surrounding rainforest on a moonlight tour led by biologist Tracie ' the Bug Lady' Stice. But it took a caterpillar to knock the passionate filmmaker off his feet. He lived out of a repurposed ambulance for months during filming for the first season of the wildlife series, and he's gotten within arm's reach of lions in South Africa, stalked turtle hatchlings in Florida, and had multiple close encounters with crocodiles during filming. But luckily, it was only a caterpillar.įilipe DeAndrade, a filmmaker and host of National Geographic Wild's Untamed, has seen it all. If it was a snake, it would have bitten them.

Pellucid hawk moth caterpillar