Fat, Horned Caterpillar

(Picture above is of "our" caterpillar - the right side is his face, and the left side has the horn. I actually thought the horn was on his face until he started crawling!)

This morning, when Alexandra came downstairs, she asked why our dog was outside barking. I really hadn't noticed, so we went outside to check it out. Well, she was barking at something in the grass, so I thought we'd cautiously check it out.

I saw this very plump, brown thing that looked like a tail to something. I was a little nervous, but I picked up a large piece of bark (I couldn't find a stick), and touched it. It turns out the "tail" was an entire body - of a big, fat caterpillar!

I was still afraid to touch it as it had this large "horn." I was calling it a unicorn caterpillar. I finally got brave enough to pick it up and it whipped around like it was trying to sting me. I was still a little afraid, so we got a bug box to put him in.

I tried to find a picture of him on the internet, and so far I've only discovered that he is a "horned" caterpillar. I did find the email of a man that I'm going to contact and ask for help.

We took him back outside to photograph. I really thought he was almost dead as he only moved when I grabbed him, but eventually found out that he must have been "playing dead." I'm sure both my daugther and I and our dog gave him quite a scare. He finally started crawling around.

He is brown on top and about 2 inches long. I took a ruler with me, but he was usually curled up, and when he finally stretched out, I forgot to measure him. I did measure his horn to be 1 cm. He's brown on the top with some spots, and green on his underside.

I just love all of the neat things we are finding... right in our own backyard!