Childhood Dream Fulfilled!!!

Ahhh so I am writing this blog a couple weeks after the experience but it's probably better this way because I was way too excited to sit down at a computer!  Anyway, two Mondays ago was a great day.  I was out in the field working my wonderful job at Cuyahoga Valley National Park, and it was just one of those days where everything is inspiring and you see some cool things in nature.  As Sonia and I were heading back from our field site to the truck, my face was in a book trying to identify some plant.  She suddenly stopped and said "OH MY GOD!"  When I looked up and saw what the commotion was about, I couldn't believe my eyes. A HICKORY HORNED DEVIL!!!  Ok, so most of you probably have no idea what I'm talking about.  A Hickory Horned Devil is a giant caterpillar...one that I've never seen previously.  See, when I was a kid caterpillars were my thing (well one of them anyway), and the Hickory Horned Devil was always my favorite.  I even have drawings of this thing from when I was 10 years old to prove it!  My nature buddy ever since elementary school, Chia and I would go out collecting insects all the time, even during recess!  We were "Nature Nuts", a name that came from our favorite TV show when we were kids.

Anyway, I always wanted to find this magical caterpillar, and about 14 years later was my lucky day!!  Sorry to keep you wondering what this beauty looks like, here's a photo of me holding the monster...

Isn't that thing AWESOME?!?! What an amazing coincidence that this caterpillar just so happened to be crossing the towpath as Sonia and I walked by! This path was extremely dangerous for the Devil to be crossing as bikers and joggers galore zoom by without even realize their surroundings most of the time.  If I had come up on a flattened individual that day, I'd probably still be there on my knees crying!  Well that may be a bit extreme, but the point is that it was meant to be that I saw my caterpillar that day!  And saved its life!

While guarding and admiring this beautiful creature, many towpath users were curious about two goofballs wearing orange vests who were crowding the middle of the path. They stopped and saw the caterpillar and got a brief explanation from excited me about the life cycle and how seeing one was my dream.  I am the biggest nerd ever  : )  Sonia made fun of me because when I was on the phone spewing out the great news to Chia I apparantly said "dude" about every other word...I'm sorry, I get excited! Once I cut "dude" out of my vocabulary, I didn't have nearly as much to say haha.

So now for a brief life history lesson on the Hickory Horned Devil.  The reason why this caterpillar was on the ground risking his life is because he was looking for somewhere to pupate.  For this species, that means that he will find somewhere to dig a hole in the ground to metamorphose rather than spin a cocoon.  I know that this caterpillar was about to pupate for 2 reasons; first, he is dressed in a beautiful turquoise  hue rather than his previous pure green.  Many caterpillars change colors just before they pupate.  Secondly, there aren't many instances why this caterpillar would be on the ground otherwise, and this is the time of year to find them coming out of their host plants.

Once the Devil buries himself in the earth, he may overwinter there for one or two years!  A magical transformation will then take place and the beautiful Regal Moth will emerge!  As you can imagine, these moths are huge, and they too are gorgeous.  I have yet to see one, so here is a photo that I found on the web.

The Regal Moth will devote all of its time to mating and the females will then lay their eggs.  The adult moths don't even eat and they only live for a few weeks just for the purpose of creating offspring.  I hope that I get to see one soon!!

I am going to leave this post with a few other caterpillar photos that I've gotten recently.  One of which seemed to be some sort of alien on first sight!

This bizarre creature is called a Monkey Slug.  It is a species that specializes in mimicry.  Chia spotted this guy while we were hiking in Cuyahoga Valley.  It is believed that the caterpillar is mimicing a tarantula shed in order to deter predators from eating it.  Furthermore, the adult moth has two forms.  The female is a bee-mimicing moth, and the male is a wasp mimic!  What a crazy creature with such evolutionary trickery at work!

The last two caterpillars to share are the Luna Moth cat (left), and a Monarch cat (right).  Two more beautiful species, but I'm done telling stories for now!