Hornworms (Manduca sexta) are commonly used in hormonal and endocrine experiments for their sensitivity to dietary and chemical regulation. In the wild, they feed on tobacco plants, absorbing nicotine as a form of defense. Removed from this ecology and sustained on agar-based diets, they lose this capacity and become exposed, malleable bodies shaped by external control.

Encountering hornworms under these conditions, I recognized parallels between their regulated biological state and my own experience of living with a hormonally managed body.