Earlier this week in Virginia, Gloucester County Parks Ranger Monica Canepa was leading a group of young summer campers on a nature walk when she made an incredible discovery — one that left her speechless.
As the group finished up lunch at some picnic
tables, Canepa noticed something unusual on the ground among some leaves.
“From the corner of my eye, I saw movement,” Canepa told The Dodo. “Usually, it's a sparrow or maybe a turtle if we are lucky. I was blown away to discover a half-foot-long caterpillar with ten orange horns! The most stunningly gorgeous and formidable-looking invertebrate I had ever seen!”
It was a rarely-seen hickory horned devil caterpillar. And it was huge.
“I was truly shocked and needed a moment to process what I was seeing as real,” Canepa said. “After a few moments of my brain rebooting, I realized that this was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for the kids to see a rare species. I carefully scooped up the hickory horned devil in my hat.”
Despite having worked as a park ranger in the region for years, Canepa had never come across a caterpillar like this before.
“It really looked like a real-life Pokémon!” she said. “The caterpillar up close was striking, yet delightfully confusing-looking. Especially with all those horns and spikes! The kids had a lot of fun trying to understand what they were seeing.”
Though hickory horned devil caterpillars have an ominous-sounding name, they are harmless to humans. Showing him to her young campers, they were equally stunned.
“I instructed the kids to stay seated and not touch the caterpillar, because part of leaving no trace means respecting wild animals,” Canepa said. “All the kids oohed and ahhed.”
Canepa called for some of her colleagues to come take a look at the caterpillar, too, as none had ever seen one before, either.
Then, after those few moments of awe and appreciation, Canepa allowed the stunning caterpillar to continue on his way, finding a cozy pile of leaves some distance off the trail.
“Although it would never understand me, I told the hickory horned devil, ‘Thank you. I love you. Have a great life!’” Canepa said.
There is a chance, however, that the two will meet again — perhaps when he takes on his new form, that of a regal moth.
For Canepa and the youngsters with her that day, the encounter with the caterpillar will be one they won’t soon forget.
“This caterpillar was fearless and very proudly paraded around my hat for all the children. To anthropomorphize, it acted like it knew how good it looked,” Canepa said. “It was an incredibly exciting reminder that local county parks are teeming with rare species and have lots to offer.”
