This time I have had eight caterpillars on my Curry leaf and Lemon plant. It’s been a couple if weeks and it’s been fun watching them grow from teeny tiny bird droppings to pea green eating machines.
An interesting observation that I missed last year is about their unique defense mechanism. I accidentally discovered it for myself while moving the plant pots about.
First they have fake eyes on either side of their head to make them look like a snake, then they have an organ in their head called the osmeterium. When threatened, the caterpillars display the osmeterium, which resemble two brightly colored ‘horns’ sticking up from the caterpillar’s head. The osmeterium can emit foul-smelling terpenes. The smell, the horns and the caterpillar’s thrashing movements, helps to ward off predators.
https://instagram.com/p/6FAsNjglWwAjRyrfYG67CMUBEQzsjjizP5–k0/
Love the Wild 