Great Leopard Moth Caterpillar

This morning my husband had just got back from the store where he purchased a bunch of stuff to do the oil changes for both or our cars.  While unlocking the shed he notices that our minivan key was no longer on his key chain.  So, both my husband and I began to retrace his steps of where the key fell off.  First, my husband called the store to see if it was left behind. No, key.  We looked in the cars, the grass, and the  shed.  No, key.  My husband came to the conclusion that it must have fell off in  the parking lot of the store.

  As he drove back to the store I kept searching the ground around our home.  While searching I noticed what appeared at first to be a little long black scrub brush.  When I took a closer look I saw that it was a black wooly bear like Caterpillar.  Naturally I became intrigued because it was a type of caterpillar I'd never seen before.  Of course I grabbed my camera and told my daughter to come out with me and take a look   My daughter immediately became very interested. Once I was able to identify that it was a Great Leopard Moth Caterpillar (which is not poisonous).  I allowed my daughter to pick up the caterpillar so she could feel and examine the creature for herself (as you can see in the photo above).

Here is what my daughter and I learned through our observation of this fabulous creature.

• The caterpillar does not feel as soft and cuddly as it appears.  In fact it feels more like bristles of a scrub brush.
• It's dark black with orange rings that can be seen only if the caterpillar is curled in a ball or bent in certain position.
• The caterpillar curls itself in to a ball when frightened.
• It can move rather quickly.
• Its legs feel like a sticker bush as it grabs hold to your fingers. It does not hurt just that the caterpillar has a powerful grip for its size.
• It was about 2 1/2- 3 inches long.
• The caterpillar like to  eat Japanese Honeysuckles.  Which happen to grow along my fence line.  ( Which also answered my question as to why I found this caterpillar in our yard).
• We also learned that the caterpillar eats off the bristle like hairs on its body and forms a cocoon where then later on turns into a beautiful white and black spotted Great Leopard Moth.  Where its wings span can be up to 3 inches long. How cool is that!

A big thanks goes to my husband Ray for losing his key.  It was incredibly frustrating.  However, if he had not lost his key I may have never discovered this wonderful creature.  Yes, my husband did find his key in the parking lot.  And we all lived happily ever after.

The End