Caterpillar Tendrils!

   It occurred to me today that this old world is filled with some of the most marvelous creatures ever.  Sure, most of us can recognize thousands of critters even if it is from only picture books but, sometimes, ones plop down upon us and cause us to scratch our heads in wonderment.  

  Literally, that happened today. Kerplop!  A critter landed on the wicker chair next to me.  Son happened to see it and then questioned if I had any idea what it was.  Nope.  Never saw one before in my life...even in those picture books.  So, we did what we always do.  We took photographs.  I took some.  Son took some...just in case the others were not clear enough for an identification. Then the magic of the internet came into play!  Instead of browsing millions of photos online, I merely type in a vague description and, BAM!, there you go!  Good old Google has an answer.  My search line was "orangish brown caterpillar with tendrils".  

    This is a horned spanworm and those little twirly things are called tendrils!  This critter obviously fell from either the hickory tree or the oak tree that shaded the chairs.  The caterpillar chews on the leaves of hardwood trees so that makes the most sense.  (At least, it is not a cabbage worm!)  When the caterpillar ages, it will turn into a rather nondescript brownish gray moth. 

  While this is all interesting, it was those tendrils that captivated my attention.  Most of the time, the tendrils are small and mostly unnoticeable but when the critter is disturbed, that all changes.  It can puff those things up until they are quite scary looking.  The most noted theory is that tendrils are supposed to be a disguise and make the critter look like some odd flower with long stamens.  To my way of thinking, it looks a lot more like a spider than a flower.  Also, to my way of thinking, that makes more sense as appearing to be a scary predator is a probably a better defense that looking pretty.  Also, if you look really close at the last photograph, you can see what appears to be claws!  SCARY!  (Aren't we glad this thing is about an inch long and not some dinosaur sized creature!)

  Either way, Son and I finished our photo session with said critter and then I gently put it back on a hickory branch where it immediately started munching more leaves.  (Like I said, at least, it is not a cabbage worm!)  That ended our encounter with a very unusual and unknown (at the moment) critter that literally dropped in to visit us.