Young sawflies are remarkably in sync. During their larval stage, they do everything together from fending off predators to traveling in one, cohesive pile.

And when these youngsters are approached by a potential threat, they often rise up, wiggling in unison. Baby sawflies look much like caterpillars, and they’re soft and vulnerable to being eaten. However, when banded together, they stand a greater chance of survival.

“[It] reminds me of a cohesive group of Spartan warriors,” National Geographic grantee Aaron Pomerantz, an entomologist, said in his original tweet showing the sawflies. Pomerantz has been conducting research in Tambopata, Peru, a town in the Amazon rainforest, for several years. It was the first time he had seen the bizarre phenomenon in person.

From afar,