it may be mimicking a flower or trying to scare a birds away

From their rippling movement and strange markings, to their occasionally cannibalistic tendencies, many people find caterpillars the creepiest of creepy crawlies.

Now an entomologist has captured the bizarre behaviour of such a critter with four strange tentacle-like appendages protruding from its abdomen in the Peruvian Amazon.

He found the caterpillar, thought to be a Horned spanworm, thrusts its filaments outwards in response to loud noises.

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Wild behaviour: An entomologist has captured the bizarre behaviour of a caterpillar with four strange tentacle-like appendages protruding from its abdomen (pictured) that lives in the Peruvian Amazon. The caterpillar fires out its filaments in response to loud noises

Aaron Pomerantz came across the camouflaged creature in the rainforest, where it at first resembled a twig.

When relaxed, the caterpillar has its ‘"tentacles" coiled like a spring,’ seemingly ready to respond to any sign of danger.

The creature rapidly extends its four filaments outwards upon sensing vibrations – an action that caught Mr Pomerantz’s eye.

The insect expert, who works with ecotourism company RainForest Expeditions, found the caterpillar 100 feet (30 metres) up a tree near the Tambopata Research Centre in south eastern Peru.

Aaron Pomerantz came across the camouflaged creature in the rainforest, where it at first resembled a twig, but the caterpillar's movement (shown) caught his eye

The creature rapidly extends its four appendages outwards upon sensing vibrations and then coils them back in again (pictured), ready to extend them again when it next feels threatened

WHAT IS THE HORNED SPANWORM? Entolmologist Aaron Pomerantz found the caterpillar 100 feet (30 metres) up a tree near the Tambopata Research Centre in south eastern Peru. Mr Pomerantz suspects the caterpillar is a Horned-spanworm and belongs to the moth family, Geometridae, in the genus Nematocampa It is found in North America and the Neotropics. It is not known exactly why the creature thrusts its filaments outwards but theories include that it is mimicking the movement of brown flowers in the wind, or is trying to scare birds off, as well as preparing to sacrifice its tentacle-like appendages to save its body in the event of an attack. Advertisement

He might never have noticed this small brown creature had it not been for its unusual movement.

'I've been involved in entomology for pretty much my whole life, but have never seen this kind of insect larva before, he told MailOnline.

'My initial reaction when I saw this caterpillar and its strange movement was something along the lines of...wait a minute. Does that thing have tentacles on its back? This has got to be weird.'

Noises caused it to ‘fire its "tentacles" in randomised directions, then slowly twirl back into a spring-like "ready" position’ to await its next alarm.

‘It was super bizarre…all of a sudden there was this little thing that went 'bloop' when I called out to a couple of people in my group,’ he told National Geographic.

He discovered the caterpillar responded to noise and found himself shouting so he could record the animal’s novel reaction.

Caterpillars have no ears, but sense vibrations in the air using sensitive hairs.

The reaction to noise was so peculiar that once his group joined him around the creature, they proceeded to take turns yelling at it and filming its contorting reactions for more than an hour.

Jason Weintraub, collection manager at Drexel University's Academy of Natural Sciences said he has never seen anything like the behaviour exhibited by the caterpillar, when he watched the video.

While it is likely that the reaction is a form of defence, it is hard to imagine what the sudden movement achieves exactly, other than to scare predators momentarily.

The insect expert, who works with ecotourism company RainForest Expeditions , found the caterpillar 100 feet (30 metres) up a tree near the Tambopata Research Centre in south eastern Peru (marked on the map)

It is not known exactly why the creature thrusts its filaments outwards (pictured) but theories include that it is mimicking the movement of brown flowers in the wind, or is trying to scare birds off, as well as preparing to sacrifice its tentacle-like appendages to save its body in the event of an attack

THE CATERPILLAR THAT MIMICS A SMELLY SNAKE TO SURVIVE The Eastern tiger swallowtail caterpillar pretends to be a smelly snake to protect itself from predators. Native to North America, it has two green 'eyespots' on the top of its body that makes it look like a snake slithering between the leaves. Incredibly, when disturbed, the insect larvae shoots out two bright orange structures that look like the forked tongue of a snake. And as if resembling a potentially dangerous reptile was not enough to put off hungry birds, the caterpillar has another weapon in its armory. Pushing out the orange tongue-like structure - known as an osmeterium - releases a powerful and smelly substance at the same time. Advertisement

Mr Pomerantz suspects the caterpillar is a Horned-spanworm and belongs to the moth family, Geometridae, in the genus Nematocampa

It is found in North America and the Neotropics.

'After I returned to the United States and dug in to some research, I found that this caterpillar's behavior is in fact known (there are over a million described insect species after all),' he told MailOnline.

'However, not much research has been conducted on this group...As far as I am aware, this is the first recorded video of this behavior.'

Entomologist David Wagner, in his field guide ‘Caterpillars of Eastern North America,’ notes: ‘It is difficult to imagine what the [Nematocampa] larva is mimicking, but the overall effect is not unlike a fallen brown flower with exerted stamens.

‘Alarmed caterpillars shunt hemolymph into filaments, enlarging them by as much as twice their resting length.’

He suggests the movement may mimic that of flowers in the wind, enabling the caterpillar to blend into its surroundings.

'It's unclear what purpose the tentacles serve, but there are so many caterpillars in this genus that have weird tentacle structures; it must serve an important function, Mr Pomerantz said.

'They may serve to distract a hungry attacking predator, like a bird, which may snag a tentacle instead of the main body (kind of like how a lizard loses its tail from an attacking predator).'

If this happened, the caterpillar would have a chance of escaping with its life, in a similar way to how some lizards lose their tails, he explained.