Currently the big topic in my area of Denmark are the oak processionary caterpillars which are covered in venomous hairs that cause extremely itchy skin rashes and in some cases death if you have airway problems and accidentally inhale the hairs. They are suspected of having arrived in Denmark via imported wood because they first appeared in an area with a lot of hardware stores as well as one of Denmark’s bigger IKEAs.
The crazy thing about them is that you don’t have to touch them to get the rashes. Just being in the same area as them puts you at risk. My family and I had our own less serious version of unknowingly playing with radioactive material when we saw some caterpillars walk across the street. We stopped to watch them for a few seconds then kept walking. The next few days we all developed red spots on our exposed skin.
What boggles my mind is how they evolved to make the very area they live in unlivable. Loads of things in nature are poisonous or venomous and everyone knows not to touch them, but to cause damage to creatures 50 meters away just seems excessive. I’m sure you could have achieved the same survival rate by being poisonous and have bright colors you little fucks.
The species is native to southern Europe, and has started causing trouble in southern German forestry in the early 2000. The fact that they now reached northern Europe and can survive and propagate there? Catastrophic. But climate change is a hoax. Stop making panic. There's nothing to see here.
