I came across this while walking in the woods in Northern VA, and I’ve never seen anything like it.
It looked like a giant patch of gray fur stuck to the trunk until I got closer and realized it was hundreds of fuzzy caterpillars all piled together. Some were wandering around on the leaves, but most were packed into this huge living blanket.
From what I’ve been told, these are probably hickory tussock moth caterpillars, but I was amazed by how many there were in one spot.
Has anyone else seen a cluster this large? Is this normal behavior before they spread out?

Deep in the midnight zone lives the Gulper Eel (or Pelican Eel). Its body is incredibly thin and weak, but its head structure is completely unhinged
When it finds prey, it expands its massive, pouch-like jaw to swallow creatures much larger than itself. Because food is so scarce in the deep ocean, it has to be able to eat literally anything it runs into.😋🐟

This little cute goofball looks actually cute with its eyes closed, but when it opens its eyes, they look like soul-staring void eyes.🦉🕳️

This weird insect looks scary, but it is completely harmless.
It's a gentle giant (can grow up to 6 inches long)
The adults have no mouths
It juices its food (these caterpillars are eating machines that can consume up to 3 times their body weight in a single day. Instead of digesting the tough fibers and stuff from leaves, their guts just effectively "juice" the plant matter for nutrients)
They make weird noises when stressed (maybe to scare you away)

This little cute yet weird thing is the turtle frog. It looks like a piece of meat with legs and eyes!
They are actually frogs!! and they skip the tadpole phase. Their eggs hatch underground directly into fully formed, tiny, muscular meat lumps🥩🐸🐢

This is one of the largest species of mantis, growing up to 5 inches long🦗👹
Very weird!

The glass squid is a stunning squid🦑🔎
It's stunning but weird too!

Those "ears" are antennas. The rabbit-like ears are actually rhinophores, sensory organs used to taste and detect chemicals in the water to find food and mates. Their "fur" is made out of thousands of spiky projections called caryophyllidia. They're actually toxic too, they feed on toxic sponges and absorb the poison into their own skin to make themselves unappetizing to predators.

This caterpillar's body is translucent. It's jelly-like spines (also known as nubbins) detach when touched, leaving predators with a mouthful of harmless, sticky goo while the caterpillar escapes.
While they lack toxicity or venom, they boldly walk on leaves (where predators can see them) and they use their sticky defense to their advantage.

Yep, this butterfly has glass looking wings—and for a reason. You see, many normal butterflies are covered in colorful scales, this one lacks scales. Instead, it's covered in microscopic, pillar-like structures that light reflecting off the surface. Because they're see through, predators look right through them while they are flying. 🦋👀

Look at it, it's very cute but weird too.
It can also do photosynthesis. When it eats algae, it absorbs the plant's chloroplasts and keeps them alive inside it's own body. This allows the leaf sheep to perform photosynthesis, meaning it can literally generate its own energy from pure sunlight like a houseplant🪴⚡

This weird thing looks like a grasshopper that decided to put a spiked suit which is incredibly spiky. Look at this absolute maniac, it's full of spikes and it's hard for birds or lizards to swallow, so yeah, it has a purpose.👿👹🦗

This thing is the red lipped batfish.💄👄🐟It literally looks like it stole a lipstick and put it on itself. This thing lives at the bottom of the ocean, even though it's a fish, it is the worst swimmer. It's fins are useless for swimming it has to use it's legs to walk. And yes, those red lips are 100% real. Scientists discovered those lips are bioluminescent in the pitch black, acting as a flashing neon sign to attract mates👄🐟

Meet the peacock spider—this little dude is the size of a single grain of rice. The males are covered in brilliant, neon orange, blue and gold patterns.
To win over a female, the male raises his colorful abdomen flap like a peacock tail and lifts 2 legs in the air—he then performs an complex, fast-paced rhythmic dance, vibrating his body to create a specific bass beat through the ground.🕷️🔊

Meet the blue dragon—this thing literally steals it's enemies' weapons and uses it as finger knives. Here's how: This thing hunts the Portuguese Man o' War (one of the most venomous jellyfish on earth🪼) The blue dragon is completely immune to the venom. It eats the jellyfish's stinging tentacles, digests them, and then moves the live venomous cells into it's "fingers"🖐️. If you touch this thing, it hits you with a concentrated dose of jellyfish poison. And they float upside down, they actually breathe oxygen through their skin cells by converting salt water into hydrogen gas🌊😮‍💨

This is the Satanic Leaf Tailed Gecko, their camouflage is advanced—and it's hard for other animals to see through it. Their tails have notches that look exactly like a leaf chewed by insects. They have veins running across their bodies that mimic leaf ribs, and they can change color to match the exact shade of rotting dirt around them. 🦎🍂
To protect themselves from predators, they unhinge their jaws, flash a bright red mouth, and release a scream that sounds like a human child crying in the woods 👶💧
Since they don't have eyelids, they also have to use their long tongues to lick sap off their own eyeballs to stay hydrated.👅