Giant eating machine

[Tronhard]

My partner has decided to nurture Monarch butterflies.

Apparently that has meant buying several types of plants, pots and other expensive stuff; placing caterpillars on said herbage and then covering them over with a wasp-proof netting. All very good really. It seems to have worked as the caterpillar population has exploded and is furiously eating the host plants to extinction. With imminent overpopulation came the hard decision to let some of the little critters outside of the netting and let them fend for themselves. It was a situation worthy of Shrek himself: "Some of you may die, but that is a risk I am prepared to take!"

One such outcast has, for reasons unknown, positively blossomed (can one say that a caterpillar blossoms???). The wasps seem to ignore it while taking out the competition, which leads me to suspect that there is some kind of insect protection racket going on. In any case it has assumed significant proportions and while idly watching it chomp through life I thought I would shoot it - with my handy 15-85 (not particularly macro) lens. The image is cropped but otherwise pretty much untouched by human and likely insect hand. I am considering printing a large copy and putting it up beside the plant like a billboard - the wasps HAVE to see it then, unless they get scared off...

[Ken MT]

Another survivor

[Tronhard]

Oh Goodness... They are taking over the world!!!! Save yourselves while you can.

Seriously though, NICE shot! What did you take that with??

[Ken MT]

Canon 7D Mk ii, with Canon 100 mm IS macro. 1/80, sec, f22, ISO 1600, handheld,

[Tronhard]

Canon 7D Mk ii, with Canon 100 mm IS macro. 1/80, sec, f22, ISO 1600, handheld,

Nice. I have the same lens but alas about 12,000km away - a tad far...

[Shadowman]

Nice shots.

[IzzieK]

Both nice shots. I like Trev's better, sorry Ken...because the whole shape is so much more clearer, but I'd rather like the stem on the side removed and the other leftover be cloned out leaving only the leaf and the critter. What do you think?

[Tronhard]

Both nice shots. I like Trev's better, sorry Ken...because the whole shape is so much more clearer, but I'd rather like the stem on the side removed and the other leftover be cloned out leaving only the leaf and the critter. What do you think?

Ken's shot is a lot closer - and it was probably a lot harder to get the angle. Below is what I think you were getting at Izzie.

On an interesting footnote I think I know WHY this caterpillar was left alone, and why it was so huge. It was sick and just ate itself to death - it literally burst open eventually. I guess something about it told the predators that it was not a good meal. Really interesting...

[IzzieK]

Ken's shot is a lot closer - and it was probably a lot harder to get the angle. Below is what I think you were getting at Izzie.

Yes...this is much more closer now...I like it.

On an interesting footnote I think I know WHY this caterpillar was left alone, and why it was so huge. It was sick and just ate itself to death - it literally burst open eventually....

Fair dinkum!!! Really???