Eating Myself: Giant Centipede | National Geographic

you probably think of centipedes as tiny
squishy bothersome things cowering in
your garden meet the South American
centipede about a foot long in your face
and full of surprises first surprise
this centipede is still growing so it’s
got to shed so a new exoskeleton can
grow on its body like a debutante
wriggling out of a too-tight evening
gown the centipede has to squirm slink
twitch rye then is out of its
confinement finally finally it gets out
of its old body armor now it has to
plump up fast before its epidermis
secretes chitin too soon if the chitin
hardens into a shell why the centipede
is still on the smallish side the
shedding would have been pointless hey
what could be more convenient snacking
than that handy old exoskeleton what do
you call this I mean it’s not
cannibalism because that’s eating
another of your own species I guess you
could call this in Auto grazing
the centipede has a new skin and a new
attitude predator it’s hungry and eating
its old skin just isn’t good enough it’s
after a baby green iguana the iguana is
fast
twitchy highly mobile and impulsive the
centipede is slower persistent hungry
and strategic the centipede advances on
the iguana iguana retreats the iguana
scoots the centipede crawls scoot crawl
scoot crawl
whoopsie-daisy somehow after all that
scooting the iguana finds itself at the
end of a branch how that happened
no the centipede moves in for the moment
of truth the iguana
considers its options and in a defensive
response leaps into the safety of the
water below
okay so the centipede wasn’t satisfied
eating its own skin and then it failed
to nab a more substantial meal know what
these baby rats are safe because Mom is
guarding the nest but mom has to go
grocery shopping
leaving the babies completely helpless
speaking of grocery shopping the
centipede relies on ground vibrations
and ant any touch to locate a feast like
this one
mom senses danger and races to the
rescue the centipede is chased off but
not before mom discovers one of her
babies dead killed by the senate eat now
wait a minute we don’t want you to think
that centipedes are Venom’s spewing
hundred legged baby killers I mean the
females can be devoted moms I dare any
predator to try and get at these eggs
this mom is literally a basket case
protecting her eggs until they hatch and
a new generation of fierce multi limbed
warriors are unleashed on the jungle