Animals That Shed Their Skin

Crabs The ability for growth isn’t the only reason crabs molt. When shedding its shells, the crab relieves itself of barnacles and parasites potentially living in its shell. Generally, a crab molts dozens of times throughout its life cycle. Crabs can even regenerate their legs.

Grasshoppers The grasshopper lives for about a year. It goes from egg to nymph to adult. During that period, it molts five to six times during the nymph phase. Unlike a variety of arthropods that molt for their entire lives, the grasshopper reaches adulthood and stops the shedding process.

Snakes Snakes, one of the most common animals to shed skin, molt, and leave their old skin in one piece. The snake shed process is unique to vertebrates. But unlike the typical arthropods, snakes do not have exoskeletons. How often a snake will shed depends on temps, the amount of food, and other environmental factors.

Bighorn Sheep There are mammals that molt as snakes and insects do. A lot of these animals shed their wool, hair, or fur on a periodic or seasonal year-round schedule. The largest wild sheep in North America, the bighorn, shed their winter coats in the late spring and early summer. 

Frogs A frog’s skin will harden. They shed old skin to avoid that. If they didn’t and the skin hardened, the animal couldn’t get enough oxygen. The frog breathes through its skin when it’s in water. The process is relatively easy.

Humans The outermost layer of skin on humans, the epidermis, constantly evolves. When the skin’s too dry, desmosomes in the enzymes will degrade and will malfunction. That leads to cells clumping. The cells shed as one, instead of single cells shedding invisibly.

Spiders Like many creatures, spiders shed their exoskeletons to prevent growth stunting. The arachnid’s frame grows while its outer shell doesn’t. The spider has an outer shell consisting of an elastic, inner layer and one right, outer layer.

Dogs Shedding is critical to the animal’s fur and skin health. Many dog lovers live with the molting of their dogs. Most canines shed in the spring and autumn, dependent on environment, breed, and climate. Another factor is whether the dog has a single or double layer of fur.

Birds Keratin is a substance located in hooves, horns, fingernails, claws, turtle shells, and porcupine quills. The outer layer of the skin is the epidermis. This same surface is composed of dead cells made of keratin. There is also keratin in feathers. The compound is critical for flying creatures to stay in the air.

Caterpillars Caterpillars shed their exoskeletons four to five times during their growth stages. The insect outgrows its exoskeleton, expands its body, splits the outer layer, and crawls out. Now, the exoskeleton isn’t like atypical skin. It’s more like a fingernail, sliding off with the old skin peeling back from the front.