Threatened

The Monarch caterpillar with its bold yellow, black, and white stripes seems to shout, “Look at me!” A yellow and black color combination is attention grabbing (it’s used as a hazard warning, on caution tape, and in brand marketing). Yet artists know that mixing yellow and black pigments together results in green. From a distance, the caterpillar is well camouflaged; the yellow and black blend into the green milkweed leaves. Only when a predator gets up close will it see the stripes and thus the caterpillar, but it will be warned away by another defense mechanism: warning coloration, or aposematism. This caterpillar was hiding in plain sight on a milkweed leaf outside my studio.