Oleander Hawk Moth Caterpillar

There are some very chubby caterpillars with blue eye-liners on my periwinkle plants.
They are the Oleander Hawk Moth Caterpillars.

These green caterpillars have 2 big blue eye-spots that make them look bigger than they really are.
The purpose of these eye-spots are to scare away possible predators.

  

From observation, when the caterpillar is 'startled', its blue eyes widen abruptly, even a human being would back off.
I certainly did.
My dog startled the caterpillar by walking through the periwinkle plants and that action brought about a domino effect.

By the time, I decided to capture its large scary eyes and gotten near to the caterpillar again, it looked grumpy instead.

This caterpillar is green, blending well with the surroundings and often go unnoticed.
Since they are slow and soft-bodied, they need to camouflage to protect themselves from predators.

It has 3 pairs of jointed legs with hooks attached to its thorax.

It has another 5 pairs of stumpy legs on its abdomen.

The caterpillar has powerful jaws and spends most of its time eating.
It holds on to the food with its thoracic legs.
This particular one is chewing off the leaves of a periwinkle plant.

I observed that the caterpillars start their meal from the top of a plant, working downwards before moving on to another.
That only makes sense.
Imagine if it were to start eating from the bottom, it will be exposed by the time it reaches the top with no leaves to protect it.

Below are some caterpillar poop.

I must admit that these pellets look very interesting to me.

There are constant transformation in these caterpillars.

Notice the mouthpiece?
It was round before and then became pointed.
It changes from green to brown.

This caterpillar is about to transform into a chrysalis.
It is lying horizontal now and is on its way towards the ground.
It has been raining daily, I hope it doesn't drown.

Goodbye!
I may never see this again since it will be transforming to a moth that only appears at night.

Linking up with:
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