As I was making one of my many trips across our lawn to the house from the shop something "out of the ordinary" caught my eye.

I thought it might be a piece of garbage etc.so I stopped to examine it and pick it up. Closer inspection revealed what I first thought to be a type of Newt lizard. It had eyes and a mouth and ear holes. As I looked more closely I couldn't identify it immediately. I have never seen one of these things before.

It raised its head up about 1/2" when I picked it up like a cobra snake. Interesting. It appeared to be some sort of grub like caterpillar. Very large head leading back to a tapered end of its thorax.

I finally realized what it was. A spicebush butterfly caterpillar.

Here's looking at you.

That's neat. Thanks for the share

He's kind of cute, lol.

just an ordinary caterpillar that escaped from feeding in your lure shed.

PLEASE don't let any mice get in there!

Kind of a cute little fella; I'll bet you could start a new pet craze with them . Probably start a new invasive species problem too.

I'm forever amazed at these small treasures. Thanks for the post Bob.

Jack

Tree man, there isn't any sustainable food for that catepillar in my shop. He will be spinning a cacoon soon preparing for the next stage of development.

Never been any mice in my facility. I built it right.

There on the school lunch menu in California instead of fries!

just teasing, Bob!

(insinuating that it got into some "strange stuff" there, and morphed into something..)

Those things may get into hyper drive if they got into some prime glands.

Very interesting

That thing is so ugly it’s cute. I wonder how that camouflage works protecting the little varmint from a hungry bird.

That is a first for me, cool!

At the base of its tail it had a flat area much like a suction cup as you may see on an octopus tenacle. When I brought it into the house to take some photos I put it on a white CD envelope to get a good background. During that short time frame it excreted some grey liquid which attached it to the paper.

When I came back from getting my camera it was gone. It had crawled off about a foot away and was moving along my USB cable attached to my laptop.

I touched it gently, when I did it raised itself up like a cobra snake while bracing itself with its lower body and appeared to be looking around its surroundings.

When I went to pick it off the cable and put it back on the paper envelope for pictures it raised up once again to appear more ominous in size and intimidating.

A type of defensive postureing I would assume. A very interesting creature.

At closer examination of this creature the eyes, mouth and ears are only markings on the surface of its skin. They seem to be there to give the illusion of a larger more formidible creature. Its (proboscis) true mouth was actually on the forward bottom side end of the illusionary face markings.

Bob Maybe you should change your name to Hawkeye. You certainly have a good eye for noticing things most people would not even give a thought to .Nature is an awe inspiring never ending Miricale

Steve I had an interest in bugs of all kinds, animals and birds from a very young age. I believe that interest and fasination of those things was the planting of the seed that put me on the path to where I am today.

Being observant and curious is a vital part of who we are as outdoorsman and trappers.

Bob I was also captured by nature at a young age .From as long as I remember I was catching frogs minnows bunnies pheasant chicks just to get a better look at them I would let them go after a day or two .If I saw a bird nest I had to look in it to see what the eggs looked like .That fascination with nature motivated me to read so I could learn about wildlife .By the time I started school I had a desire to read .And by enjoying reading it was easy for me to get good grades throughout my school years I had my mom order me a subscription of the PA Game News several years before I was old enough to legally hunt .The best thing we can do to help young kids get a good start in life it to get them interested in reading .

Very cool ! Great share!