What caterpillar is that eating milkweed?

Every year I allow a few milkweed plants to grow under my window in the kitchen. When it flowers it has a beautiful fragrance that comes through the house during early evening when there is a gentle breeze. I also like to attract butterflies, like monarchs, that rely on the milkweed family to lay their eggs.

This photo is of the Milkweed Tussock Moth (Euchaetes egle) caterpillar.

Fortunately, a few bats still come out here at night that seemed to have survived the devastating white-nose syndrome. Typically the bats love to eat moths, but like the monarch, the tussock moth has a special defense that it obtains from the sap of the milkweed that makes it poisonous to eat.

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