Did you know there was such a thing as “toxic caterpillars”? You do now.

Jamie Dornan is probably best known for his role in the film “Fifty Shades of Grey.” The actor recently shared a very serious medical emergency he experienced, and yes, it was caused by caterpillars.

Page Six reports that Dornan recently shared about his run in with deadly caterpillars. On the BBC podcast “The Good, the Bad and the Unexpected,” Dornan recalled the scary experience. He shared that he was with his friend Gordon Smart at the time. They were playing golf when he “started to feel tingling in my left hand, then tingling in my left arm.” He knew enough to know that those are often early symptoms of a heart attack.

He went to the hospital and was later released, but a week later, a doctor called him and told him that the reason for the heart attack symptoms was probably due to caterpillars on the golf course. The doctor said, “There are caterpillars on golf courses in the south of Portugal that have been killing people’s dogs and giving men in their 40s heart attacks.”

The caterpillars were indeed the cause of the heart attack symptoms. Dornan explained, “It turns out we’d brushed up against hairy processionary caterpillars and have been very lucky to come out of that one alive.”

According to Forest Research, pine processionary moth caterpillars are indeed a health threat. They are dangerous for both humans and animals. These caterpillars “have thousands of tiny hairs which contain an urticating, or irritating, protein called thaumetopoein.” If these tiny hairs touch a person or animal “they can cause painful skin, eye and throat irritations and rashes and, in rare cases, allergic reactions.”

These potentially deadly caterpillars live in North Africa, southern Europe and part of the Middle East. They have been introduced via trade as far north as the United Kingdom, Switzerland and France.

Watch the video below for more details about this scary caterpillar incident.

Does it surprise you that caterpillars can cause heart attacks and kill pets?