Tiger Swallowtail with Osmeterium

Subject: What is this creature
Location: Atlanta,Georgia
June 5, 2015 10:36 am
I saw this in my driveway one afternoon inching crawling and I have no idea what it is it looks like a worm and has what seems like a tongue and eyes, we live in the south Atlanta,ga this occured early June.
Signature: Please help me I’d love to know

This is the caterpillar of a Tiger Swallowtail, and what you have mistaken for a tongue is a retractable organ called an osmeterium that gives off a foul odor.  The odor coupled with the false eyes may give predatory birds the illusion that the tasty caterpillar is actually a much larger snake that could be dangerous to a bird.  Your submission will post live to our site later in June while we are away on holiday.