Well, it seems that Mother Nature had other ideas. She threw a few critters with a little more color into the mix, I'm certain just to impress us mere mortals with Her brilliance! It worked!
Elephant Hawk Moth
From caterpillar to fully-fledged moth, this species is a fascinating one. Its name is derived from the appearance of the caterpillar: a slimmer head and thorax than the rest of its body makes the caterpillar look like an elephant trunk.
However, like many moth caterpillars, it has evolved to disguise itself with markings that impersonate a snake, eyes and all, in order to fool potential predators into staying away. It even has a trick to mimic the blinking of an eye; the caterpillars have a growth called an anal horn that can palpitate rapidly to look like a blinking eye.
If the caterpillar can survive and make it to the cocoon stage, it will emerge as one of the prettiest moth species on Earth, and certainly one of the most distinct moths in its native United Kingdom. Unlike many moth species, which are typically gray or brown, the Elephant Hawk Moth is pink and olive-coloured. They are often mistaken for a pink butterfly, but they are nocturnal and have stout, fuzzy bodies, like most moths.
Actually, the pink is somehow very nice looking on this particular moth. I just never had thought of it before. The beauty of the internet (and sites like Listverse), is that the knowledge is out there for all of us to find. All we have to is open our eyes and look in the right places.
Coffee out on the patio this morning. No rain in the forecast until later in the week-end.
