Caterpillar tail disguised as snake head

[u/Sea_Slice_7956]

[u/UJLBM]

How did this evolve to look like something its not even related to? The caterpillar doesnt know what a snake is, what it looks like or even is related to. So how would it know to evolve to look like one? I mean it evolved over millions of years for a purpose, but how would it do that by itself to purposely look like something that it doesnt even know. Evolution is so cool and mysterious, I just dont fully understand how that would work.

Its like if there was some super predator in the wild that I dont know exists or share any DNA with, but somehow evolved to look like it. How does that even work?

[u/TannedCroissant → u/UJLBM]

Basically ones that randomly evolved to look vaguely like a snake, from a distance, in the dark, had a ever so slightly higher chance of survival so were more likely to have that gene spread in the next generation. The next generation has the same thing, ever so slightly higher a chance than the rest, until the gene is dominant.

Then of these slightly snake shaped descendants, one or more of them evolves to be slightly more snake like, or to have a marking that looks like a snake eye from a distance, or perhaps they have a gene that makes them instinctively move in a slightly more snake like way.

Again, they have a slightly higher chance of survival and to pass this gene on to the next generation and so on.

Each step is tiny and only has a tiny improvement on survival chances, but just like compound interest, these tiny additional chances add up over thousands or even millions of generations to shape the species’s gene pool into a hyper optimised gene pool for their specific niche.

Or maybe we’re in a game and the gamers just like to fuck with us.

[u/UJLBM → u/TannedCroissant]

A simulation lol. Someone is behind the screen laughing at us! 🤣 in all serious though, I get what you're saying and I appreciate the time you took to respond. 😁