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 moves 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
the 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 NAV a more substantial meal no one
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 antenna 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 centipede 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 in 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