It just gets more confusing!!

[salden]

Interesting subject Joan. I like the designs on this guy.

As for eating one of them...well there are worse things then starving to death and I think eating one of these guys would fit into that category

[JoanYoung]

Thanks Sue. They are one of the nicest looking caterpillars I have seen. I guess if it actually came to survival, one never knows what you would end up eating. One of the local people at work I was speaking to was telling me that as they pick them off the bushes in harvesting season, they squeeze the insides out, then the rest of it is sun dried and used at a later stage in almost like a stew. This is then put over another local dish of maize meal which it cooked to the point where the consistance is almost dry. The dish is eaten with the fingers in the traditional way as they do not use knives and forks.
This local maize meal dish is a must at most of our barbeques except that we make a sauce of onions and tomatoes instead of worms to put over it.

[Mike B in OKlahoma]

One of the local people at work I was speaking to was telling me that as they pick them off the bushes in harvesting season, they squeeze the insides out, then the rest of it is sun dried and used at a later stage in almost like a stew. This is then put over another local dish of maize meal which it cooked to the point where the consistance is almost dry.

EWWWW! Joan, please put a "grossout warning!" in bold letters at the top of this kind of post!

[JoanYoung]

So sorry Mike.

I guess this type of thing is so natural and normal to me living in Africa, that I do not give it a second thought. I tend to foget about the "civilized" people out there.

[rjlittlefield]

Hhmm...

I wonder if Mike has ever thought deeply about sausage -- the process and ingredients, I mean...

Or where it is that eggs come from...

Or ... no, never mind ...

Never have starved, but I have gotten hungry enough to say "Thank you for the calories!". Stewed caterpillars would have worked fine.

--Rik

[Mike B in OKlahoma]

Hhmm...

I wonder if Mike has ever thought deeply about sausage -- the process and ingredients, I mean...

Or where it is that eggs come from...

Or ... no, never mind ...

Never have starved, but I have gotten hungry enough to say "Thank you for the calories!". Stewed caterpillars would have worked fine.

--Rik

I'm vaguely aware of the process for making sausage and chili ("everything but the squeal!"), and I have determinedly avoided learning more, since I want to continue to enjoy them!

I actually think that if I survived a plane crash in the bush or some Hollywoodish situation, I'd eat caterpillars or whatever else came to hand, but in the meantime, I'll eat meat in the natural state....You know, the way nature intended....Taken from neat little packages with clear plastic wrap over them, after a successful stalk at the local grocery store!

[JoanYoung]

Me thinks I will stick to the leaves and grass and leave the sausage and caterpillars to others thank you!!

[augusthouse]

Here's another link,

http://www.plantzafrica.com/plantcd/colomopane.htm

Still no ID; but some additional information (especially under the Ecology heading).

Craig

[JoanYoung]

Thanks Craig. This is an interesting link and I thank you for it. Besides elephants, the animal you mostly find browsing of the Mopane shrub are Kudu, one of our larger antelope species. In places like Kruger National Park where there is a lot of grassland, nothing else browses on it though.

Kudu are very aware of tannin. They will browse only a little while on a shrub, then you will see them jerk their heads away as it is released by the tree.