A 'snake-like' creature has caused a stir online after it was spotted in someone's garden. The animal has left people confused due to its strange appearance and looking like its 'about to strike'.
In a post on Merseyside-based Facebook group Rimrose Valley Friends, a woman shared a photo of the critter, which has similar markings to a snake, but is chunkier and shorter in length. She said: "I have just seen this caterpillar. Does anyone recognise it and what it turns in to. It raised its head like a snake about to strike."
Experts at Chester Zoo confirmed these creatures are not a type of snake but instead a type of caterpillar, Liverpool Echo reports. Mike Jordan, animal and plant director at Chester Zoo confirmed that the creature is a caterpillar that eventually turns into an Elephant Hawkmoth.
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He said: "The caterpillar feeds on willowherb, but also fuchsias so is quite often seen in gardens. When disturbed, it inflates the segments behind the head to mimic a snake.”
When the caterpillar changes to the moth, it is mainly golden-olive with bright pink bars on the wings and body. The similar Small Elephant Hawkmoth is smaller, yellower and less common and it is found in short grassland.
A number of the caterpillars were spotted in Greater Manchester last year, with people suggesting that it could be anything from a baby Mongolian rattlesnake, to a stoat and even a Pokemon.
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