Standing Out From The Crowd

That monarch butterflies lay their eggs on milkweed plants was a fact well known to me, but I don't think I have seen monarch caterpillars and was unsure whether this was one. In its distinctive black, white and gold colouring, I could hardly miss this unusual creature and had to photograph it.

As it turned out, there is another insect that favours milkweeds - the milkweed tussock or milkweed tiger moth. As an adult, the moth is non-descript and I think I will be lucky to find one, but the hairy caterpillar stands out a mile.