This Two-Headed Snake Creature Is Captivating (And Terrifying) The Internet

caterpillar-snake2 — This hawk moth caterpillar is making itself look like a two-headed snake to scare away things that may want to eat it. National Geographic

This scary thing looks like a two-headed snake — and that’s exactly what it wants you to think. But the creature, found in a garden in Santa Fe, Argentina, is not what it appears.

It’s actually a hawk moth caterpillar, using a snake disguise to ward off potential predators such as birds, according to National Geographic. The caterpillar is so good at playing pretend that the “eye” on its back end blinks like a real eye. That’s the biggest clue that the snake is not a snake: “Snakes don’t really blink … but a big, moving eye can still work to scare a bird.”

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On its underside are small legs, another clue the crawler is not really a slitherer.

The eyes on its actual albeit disguised head are real, but the third eye on its butt, which is pretending to be a second head, is its “anal horn,” according to National Geographic. That appendage is “capable of rapid palpitation,” experts say, and helps it seem like a close approximation to an eye.

And in case that’s not real enough to haunt your nightmares, you can sleep tight knowing that two-headed snakes do exist.