Arizona Oddities

Main Menu

  • Home
  • Your Guides
  • Departments
    • Art
    • Dose of History
    • Culture
    • Natural Surroundings
    • Odd Observations
    • Weather Talk
    • Food & Dining
    • Small Town Scene
    • Recreation
    • Only in Arizona
  • Get the Books
  • Contact Us

logo

Arizona Oddities

  • Home
  • Your Guides
  • Departments
    • Art
    • Dose of History
    • Culture
    • Natural Surroundings
    • Odd Observations
    • Weather Talk
    • Food & Dining
    • Small Town Scene
    • Recreation
    • Only in Arizona
  • Get the Books
  • Contact Us
Natural Surroundings
Home›Natural Surroundings›What’s an Orange Dog?

What’s an Orange Dog?

By Andrea Aker
October 3, 2013
2700
0

Excerpt from Valley 101: A Slightly Skewed Guide to Living in Arizona, a collection of Clay Thompson’s columns for The Arizona Republic. (Originally published August 23, 2001.)

Orange Dog

An orange dog (papilio cresphontes) shows a defensive behavior. This larva turns into a giant swallowtail butterfly. Photo Credit: Ianaré Sévi.

Q: Do you know what an orange dog is?

A: An orange dog is the caterpillar of the giant swallowtail butterfly and feeds exclusively on citrus. The thing about it is that it looks exactly like bird poop. Is that great or what? Further proof that God has a sense of humor.

If you were to find an orange dog on your citrus tree and poke it, it would shoot out a little tongue that gives off some sort of defensive chemical. Of course, unless you’re good at it, you might have to poke a lot of real bird poop before you found an orange dog.

Orange dogs are good eaters and are especially fond of young leaves. However, they also are preyed upon by a number of teeny-tiny parasitic insects, so it’s not likely that they would get around to doing much serious damage to your trees.

The ones that survive turn into giant swallowtails, which are, of course, giant and also very beautiful. They’re about four inches across, yellow and brown, and don’t look a bit like bird poop.

(Visited 649 times, 1 visits today)

Related Posts:

  1. What is Orange Stringy Substance Covering Desert Plants?
  2. Cactus & Wildlife Trivia 2: Can You Pass?
  3. Why Do People Paint Citrus Tree Trunks White?
  4. Arizona Oddities’ Top 10 Posts of 2015
  5. Arizona Oddities’ Top 10 Posts of 2016
Tagscitrusinsectsplants

Leave a reply Cancel reply

Arizona Oddities Archive

Most Popular Posts

  • How to Keep Scorpions Away from Your Home
  • How to Keep Javelinas Away from Your Yard
  • What’s With All the Backyard Concrete-Block Fences…
  • Did You Know it’s Against the Law to Grow…
  • Can You Get a Sunburn Under Water?

This Week Past Years

2018

  • Spherical Building in Yucca a Monument to Failed Real Estate Project

2014

  • Sing High Chop Suey House Named by Mistake

2013

  • George Daves and Petra Edmunds: Tragic Tombstone Love Story May Not Be What It Seems

2012

  • Bromo Seltzer Art in Phoenix
  • Sunny Days Mean No Free Food in Yuma

2011

  • Time Stands Still In Florence
  • Arizona's "Hollywood" Trivia: Can You Pass?

2010

  • Roosevelt Dam Key to Valley Population Boom
  • Uncle Jim: The Last of Arizona's Bonafide Gunfighters

2009

  • A Giant Head Guards Route 66
  • Old Arizona's "Ladies of the Night"
  • Recent

  • Popular

  • Comments

  • Find a Famous Writer and Explorer's Mountain Retreat in Greer

    Find a Famous Writer and Explorer’s Historic Mountain Retreat in Greer

    By Taylor Haynes
    July 31, 2020
  • thousands of Mexican free tail bats make Phoenix tunnel their summer home

    Thousands of Mexican Free-Tail Bats Make Phoenix Tunnel Their Summer Home

    By Taylor Haynes
    July 17, 2020
  • How to Keep Scorpions Away from Your Home

    By Andrea Aker
    January 3, 2011
  • Javelina

    How to Keep Javelinas Away from Your Yard

    By Andrea Aker
    November 23, 2011
  • Phil Motta
    on
    August 27, 2021

    Why Does Downtown Phoenix Seem to Have Two Downtowns?

    I know this post ...
  • Carol
    on
    October 17, 2020

    The Tucson Artifacts are the Southwest’s Greatest Hoax

    lol ... these "clues" ...

Follow us

© Copyright 2009 – 2020 Aker Ink, LLC :: Arizona Oddities is published by Aker Ink.