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Some caterpillars will twist their bodies to look like a swirl of bird poo in order to ward off hungry predators.

The unappetising camouflage technique is made even more effective by bird dropping patterns on their skin - best seen in the larva of the Apochima juglansiaria and Macrauzata maxima moths.

The cunning attempts at self-preservation were put to the test by researchers in the journal Animal Behaviour.

Biologists created fake caterpillars out of pastry and then twisted them into different shapes to see if it affected the likelihood of birds eating them.

The dummies were then pinned to cherry trees - some in a straight line and some contorted into a squiggly shape.

They found that birds were less likely (almost THREE TIMES) to eat the caterpillar replicas if they were moulded into a poo-like swirl.

Unfortunately the poo mimicry trick only works for caterpillars with the right colouring - the researchers repeated the experiment with green models and the varied shapes made no difference to their likelihood of being eaten.