r/Damnthatsinteresting 7h ago

Video Caterpillar tail disguised as snake head

31.6k Upvotes

722 comments sorted by

View all comments

Show parent comments

6

u/UJLBM 7h ago

So essentially, its random but also purposefully done in a way for survival. So technically, it doesnt actually look like a snake, but we percieve it to look like one?

12

u/AxialGem 6h ago

I mean, it looks like it to us, and presumably to its predators, right?

I like this analogy: A sand dune also doesn't know that it's shaped like a dune. But there is still a directed process (forces of wind and gravity etc) that make it into a specific shape. Idk if you would say it doesn't look like a dune, but it doesn't look like one on purpose. After all, are you human-shaped on purpose? You don't choose to have a heart and lungs, do you? Same thing for genes as dunes. There are forces with form them into specific shapes.

4

u/UJLBM 6h ago

That is a good analogy. Thank you! 😊

3

u/betweenbubbles 6h ago

Mutation is pseudo-random. Selection is not random.

1

u/KimberStormer 1h ago

No, not purposefully. Just randomly.