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‘Silence of the Lambs’ caterpillars devour shrubs at UK home, ‘rare’ sighting wows people
A Twitter user took to the micro-blogging site to share about the ‘Silence of the Lambs’ caterpillars he found at his home in the UK.
People often take the help of Internet to know about the things they are unaware of. That is what happened with Twitter user Ian Williams who was left stumped after finding a couple of caterpillars devouring shrubs at his home in the UK. He took to the micro-blogging site to ask people about the insects and what he discovered is incredible. Turns out, the tiny creatures in his garden are ‘Silence of the Lambs’ caterpillars.
“What’s this bad boy mate? Got 3 of them destroying a bush in our garden in leafy Brynmenyn, Bridgend,” Williams wrote and shared an image of the caterpillar. He also shared two more images, while replying to his own Twitter post.
Originally called death's-head hawkmoth caterpillar, they got the name ‘Silence of ambs’ caterpillars after the moths, born from the larva of these caterpillars, became a prominent symbol in the film by the same name. In the film, the serial killer Buffalo Bill used the moths with skull shape on their backs as his calling cards.
Take a look at the post:
The post prompted people to share various comments. “Death’s head hawk moth. Brilliant find. Never seen one!” commented a Twitter user. “I’d call the police if I found that in the garden!!” joked another. “I love the love for moths and caterpillars in this feed. I would be delighted to see these guys, what an absolute treat,” expressed a third. “Hawk-moth? Beautiful specimen!” wrote a fourth.
This kind of caterpillar is rarely spotted in the UK, reports the BBC. That is the reason Williams and his wife were surprised after spotting them in their garden. “I was in the kitchen and I heard a scream, my wife was actually cutting this bush in our garden back. That's when we discovered it, it was lucky it didn't get cut in half,” Williams told the BBC.
"It's really unusual in the UK, I've never seen one myself unfortunately," Dr Arthur Morris, research associate at Cardiff University, told the BBC. "It tends to be Mediterranean, southern European and northern African, but when we have particularly warm and dry summers we tend to get a few over here. Hawkmoths tend to produce very large caterpillars, so when you find them it's very certain that it's pretty obvious that you'd got something quite unusual,” added Morris.
What are your thoughts on the incredible pictures of the caterpillars? Did you ever find such insects that left you surprised and baffled?
