What is she looking at? We could not figure it out for a day or two. Then….
We took a closer look.
We could not believe the size of this tobacco hornworm.We at first thought it was the tomato hornworm but after investigation decided it is the tobacco hornworm which also eats tomato plants.
The birds ate a few of them and we picked off the rest. I love it when a new and interesting nature study subject comes our way unexpectedly.
I like the way it looks like their little feet are holding onto the branch. My son was fascinated with their mouths. Another great subject for our nature journals.
If you would like to know more about hornworms, you can read in the Handbook of Nature Study in the section on the hummingbird or sphinx moths (Lesson 75).
WHOA!! That’s one gigantor worm. Love the photo of your cat watching it! and the comparison with the ruler.
I agree , Wow !
I’ve never seen nor heard of such a worm !
We will have to look them up now .
Thanks for that lesson .
I love the cat pic ☺
Wow! That thing is huge! What a great nature study find.
We had hornworms for the first time this year. My son found them. They almost destroyed one tomato plant in one night. Six of them. We’re in the South and my relatives grew tobacco. They talked about these worms. I never knew what they meant until I saw these! You can see one of them in this post: http://itwasbroughtonbylove.blogspot.com/2010/08/last-week-we-squeezing-goody-out-of.html
We had some of those hugondous suckers this year too! B used our insect guide to i.d. it! They were NOT nice to our tomato plants!!!
I could have known it…..your cat is so well home schooled!
That worm is huge!
Oh my goodness–these give me the willies!!! I remember seeing them on tomato plants when I was a child. Thanks for the shivers! 😉
🙂