This afternoon my son and I stumbled upon this beautiful caterpillar happily munching on some cannabis leaves. I had to take some photos because I have never ever seen one like this before. Normally the only things we have encountered are different types of spiders or the odd snake, but this is so much better even though it can bite. Normally in nature if something has bright colors you are best to leave it alone, but in this case you are quite safe. We are going to move this chap to the back garden tomorrow where there are some old tomato plants for him to feast on.
Check out the tail/horn.
Any ideas what this is? I cannot wait for the replies so I cheated and did a Google search and it is a Acherontia atropos or a Death's-head hawkmoth which is pretty damn cool. Biggest moth in the British Isles, but not the biggest in Africa. Apparently they are quite rare to find and are found feeding on potatoes, tomatoes and cannabis. We think the eggs came from the deadly nightshade which we ripped up a few weeks back and apparently is a favored plant for egg laying.
Fast asleep and all enclosed in a protective casing where we will set him loose tomorrow away from granny's vegetable garden.
If you can recall this moth was the star of the film Silence Of The Lambs and was what gave them the clues. If I can recall it was a pupa that was found and once was examined lead them to that part of the country.
This one is still fairly young and would guess he is roughly 6cm long and can grow nearly double this size before evolving into a moth. There are actually quite a few cool things this moth can do and they involve bees and honey.
This caterpillar even has a tail like feature which is a horn and when it is ready to turn into a pupa they will burrow underground. They will bite if threatened which is also quite cool and weird because the only caterpillars I have come across are the hairy ones that shoot their hair at you.
The Death Head Hawk Moth can make a chirping noise when threatened and they feed on honey and bee larvae. They can move around a bee hive undisturbed as they for some reason have the same scent as the bee and if discovered and attacked by the bees they have a wax coating that protects them. The moth's lifespan is only 6 weeks and shows possibly why there are not so many of these around.
You can see why the moth got it's name as it does look like a skull or head even with eyes, nose and a mouth.
I have encountered a Deaths Head Hawk Moth a few years ago and the deaths head symbol is seriously good. It is not surprising that people once thought these were a sign of the devil and that they were evil. You could understand back in the day how these were viewed not only by their sheer size, but by what people would think when seeing a head on the markings.
I kid you not for some reason people do breed these for sale and one can by eggs/larvae for $20. I still think this is a cool insect, but would never think of breeding them.
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