When Bob Luther first saw this exotic-looking creature, he thought it was a children’s toy. Upon further inspection, however, he realized that it was a living creature — an unusual one at that.
Concerned that it would get eaten by birds, or stepped on, he picked it up and brought it to the Animal Welfare League of Alexandria. Staff members puzzled over its identity and then somebody suggested that they take the creature to the Ramsay Nature Center. It has since been identified as a hickory horned devil.
It has many orange and green spines and horns. The spines are not poisonous and are not particularly sharp — it only looks mean. The adult of the caterpillar is the orange and brown royal walnut moth.
The hickory horned devil will reside at the nature center, where it will hopefully go through its cycle and mature into a moth.