Torres told the Daily Mail, “I’ve seen some bizarre looking caterpillars in my time of working in the field, but this was definitely the weirdest one I’ve ever seen. I wasn’t sure what I was looking at at first; it was this big yellow fuzzy thing.” Cremer added, “On these tours we take tourists and photographers into the Amazon and point out cool and unusual things for them to photograph. We have been leading photo tours together for two years and have never seen anything as strange as this.” The caterpillar’s “hair” actually consists of setae, which are long, fine silky appendages that, in this case, can cause serious skin irritations. If an unlucky person tries to grab one, they will get a handful of venom, released when the setae poke into skin. Like a bee sting, the injuries can be painful but, for most, are not life threatening...
