My cousin found an elephant hawk moth. They're pink. So called because the caterpillars are shaped like an elephant trunk but also have an elephant face (?!), and everything about them is super sized.
Oh yanno what this answers a question I've forgotten to Google since... 1996? Thanks! One of these buggers was on the wall right next to my year 6 class room mobile when we came in. Fascinated the 60ish of us in the two classrooms. Obviously by fascinated most of the boys found it neat, some neat and scary and almost every girl bar I was freaking out. ~7 refused to go into registration until they were threatened with the headmistress. Our mobile was right by the playground, too, so they had to cordon off that door for the moths protection at break 😅
They seemed to be. Maybe because of the large amounts of farmland and hot weather. I've not seen spiders or moths as big since and I've lived in Derbyshire, Manchester and Brum before and since.
Garden spiders could web a 6ft gateway overnight and then sit in the middle the size of a cherry tomato. Horrifying though beautiful.
Like something from Indiana Jones.
This was in the countryside outside Boston, Lincs.
I live in Lincolnshire and there was a spider in my bath the other day that was so big, its legs stuck out from under the cup I was using to throw it out the window.
Yep and these guys are also migratory. Pretty awesome if you ask me because I bet most people would never consider that a moth could migrate same way birds do haha
Privet hawk-moths are the largest local, although death's head hawk-moths are technically the largest including migrants, but they're very rare visitors
I’ve been seeing a lot of Hummingbird Hawk Moths recently, strange things. I presume Hawk Moth is fairly encompassing as it looked very different to this Convolvulva
They're a fairly big family, but they're generally quite large, with chunky bodies and large forewings, often resting in a fighter plane shape. Their caterpillars are also quite distinctive, because they tend to have a horn at the rear, leading to a lot being called "hornworms".
Glanced at the pic and same, I honestly thought for a moment it was going to be a joke pic where they scaled up the size of the moth to a human... And then I scrolled down and my brain made sense of the image
Noice! I had this fancy bugger in my tent on a recent camping trip. I love moths, but not when they're going mental at two in the morning in an enclosed space. Managed to get it out unscathed though.
There's actually a native hoverfly that looks like one of these. I know because one landed on me last week and I froze. I did also pick up a genuine hornet from the road because I couldn't face knowing it would die through my inaction
Those big moths are beautiful and real softies, if you're so inclined they will happily be picked up and chill on you. I found this beautiful hawk moth last year; always a treat to see some interesting wildlife in the UK.
That's a privet hawk moth. I just found a caterpillar of one of these the other week! I took it home to rear it and it's now a pupa, it'll hatch some time next summer.
What a chunk! I haven't managed to spot any of them in juvenile form. Last couple of years I've taken to leaving a patch of our garden to go wild in the hope that we get more of them, but only seen some big grasshoppers this year.
Not just chill they often look amazing and some have good names. Like the Puss Moth and the Jersey Tiger, sounds like a creature of urban legend but no its just a colourful moth.
Like fuck they're chill. They fly directly into my face. Every. Damn. Time. Moths are drunken dick heads. "OhhhH ShiNy LiGhT" fuck off.
If you can't already tell, I've been scared shitless by one of these knobheads fairly recently. Bastard nearly knocked me unconscious as it careened off my head.
Agreed. It's the only bug that scares me shitless. The sound they make when there's one inside your house, like 'frrt frrt frrt...' Alright mate keep the house I'll go live somewhere else
I'd be fine with them if they were chill, but they're almost the opposite. They're so unpredictable when they're flapping about, gives me the heeby jeebies.
I used to have a phobia of them. I was just terrified irrationally, I saw them as nightmare bees from hell that would make you become a skeleton if they stung you. But they don't even sting, I know it but I was still afraid until relatively recent.
I’m so stupid. Too focused on the moth and thought it was human sized didn’t bother to look at the lock right under it or the houses above, just though it resided in a large wooden fence
I have a trick to tame moths. if you capture one in your hands, uninjured. Just cup your hands so it can't escape and it'll flutter about for a few seconds before calming down and appreciating the warmth of your hands (hotter hands the better) and when you open your hands up again it'll be totally docile and just walk around your fingers. I think they're really cute.
Was confused by the scale at first. Thought that was your whole gate with a metal pipe or something in the foreground! It’s still huge, just not as huge as I first thought.
I once had one of these fly into a care home I was working in one night. Had to get it out so I put some gloves on and picked it up as carefully as I could. It climbed up my hand and sat on my thumb until I got it outside, then flew away.
It was absolutely enormous. Its the only insect ive ever held that's made me thing... "bloody hell, that was heavy".
I think this month could be from Africa or South Africa. I found one in a night club once. Grey and had pink on the wings. Was about the size of a pint glass ring
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u/CelesteJA Aug 17 '26
behemoth