An Elephant in the hand

Tilly found this Elephant Hawk Moth caterpillar in her garden. He's now safe inside, eating his way through Fuschia. He'll soon pupate - hopefully I'll see it - and then next May the glorious moth will emerge.
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[Steve Pooley]

Looks huge with lovely markings

[Jesika]

@stevepo He’s a big caterpillar, about 3 inches at full stretch. The head is the tiny brown round part where the leaf joins the twig.
j

[Denise Wood]

Terrific :)

[kali]

wow, and that is a long pupation

[Linda Godwin]

Wow very interesting find, nice shot of him

[Jesika]

@gilbertwood Thank you
j

[Jesika]

@kali66 Insects are fascinating and they over winter as eggs, larvae, pupae or imago (adults). Some, such as the rare large Blue butterfly, are incredibly clever and enlist the help of other insects.
j

[Jesika]

@rontu Tilly spends hours in her garden hunting for lions & tigers & dinosaurs, trolls, and now it seems, elephants! I'm very pleased my little dog found this wonderful caterpillar.
Thank you
j

[KoalaGardens🐨]

wow that is huge indeed!

[Jesika]

@koalagardens wonderful, isn’t it? He’ll be pupating fairly soon. As usual I will probably miss it. It takes up to an hour, he’s so big but if Tilly decides to take me walkies....
j

[Merrelyn]

That's huge.

[Jesika]

@merrelyn And that’s without stretching to his full length!
j

[Monica]

Impressive!

[Junan Heath]

Great shot! Fav

[FBailey]

So huge for a caterpillar!

[Jesika]

@monicac @paintdipper @fbailey Many thanks, he's a big beautiful pink & green moth too! Sadly none have visited me this summer.
j

[bkb in the city]

Great capture

[Jesika]

@bkbinthecity thank you. I can’t see him now, think he’s gone into his moss to pupate. Soon I’ll put him in the coldest room in the house and wait - in hope - for a Spring eclosion of the glorious moth. j

[David]

A fat juicy one... yum! :-)

[Jesika]

@lostphojo Fortunately he's avoided being dinner and in a few months he will be a stunningly beautiful moth. Of course as usual I'll probably miss the eclosion.
j

[PhotoCrazy]

Wow, so big!!

[bkb in the city]

Great capture

[Jesika]

@photographycrazy @bkbinthecity thank you both. The caterpillar is big and so is the stunning moth. Now I must wait for spring.

[Julienne Jones]

Fabulous! I do hope he pupates soon and that you see it!

[Jesika]

@julienne1 He already has pupated - missed it of course, they bury themselves into the soil. He’ll over winter in the coldest part of the house.