We rescued a tomato hornworm from the garden last night. A quite creepy looking caterpillar that will eventually turn into a hummingbird moth. I objected to keeping the strange worm until we learned that wasps lay their eggs on the backs of hornworms. Brian saw an egg covered worm last week and was disturbed once again with the weird bugs found in the Midwest. We figured it was a caterpillar with lots of babies about to hatch - hundreds of hungry babies that would eat our tomato crop while we visited family over the weekend. Well, those eggs belonged to some mean little wasp and the hornworm was sadly the first meal. To save our new friend from a similar fate we dropped him into Isaac's Bug Habitat before bed. "Why would God make those wasps hurt those little caterpillars when they turn into a beautiful hummingbird???" Isaac asked this morning while watching "Thorny" munch on a tomato plant leaf. Yeah, so today we will be learning the difference between a hummingbird and a hummingbird moth. It will be a sad day in homeschooling if Isaac believes birds come from caterpillars! And, I must say I am happy that Isaac named his new pet "Thorny" as opposed to other similar names that could be given to a said caterpillar with a red horn.
Oh, and the picture above is not of our beloved Thorny but rather from this great informational site, VegEdge. Here's the link if you're just dying to learn more about hornworms: http://www.vegedge.umn.edu/vegpest/hornworm.htm.
2 comments:
I was about to become amazed that a hummingbird evolved from a worm. I really thought I had missed something!
Oh my goodness, Monica. Too funny. Although, I'll admit, I was like... wth... hummingbirds come from caterpillars. Maybe b/c they are small? hahaahaha But then I remembered what a hummingbird nest looks like.
Oh, and fascinating about the wasp larvae! Animal world can be quite disturbing.
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