in Nature - Post Comment
My blog 2 days ago told about our cecropia moth that emerged from its cocoon. After we left it outside we went to check the next day and it hadn't flown away. I'm not sure why it seemed to have problems with flying. During that next day it was very windy and the wind tore one of its wings badly. I felt bad that it wouldn't be able to fly away or anything. We took it and put it down out of the wind in a more sheltered place and left it probably to die.
Today my son went to look to see if it was still there and came back all excited. He said there were now 2 cecropia moths! It turns out that we had a female and the females after emerging from the cocoon, put out a scent to attract a male to mate with. This scent can be smelled by the males up to a mile away! So a male moth had come and was now mating with our injured moth. These moths also don't have any body parts to eat with. After emerging, they don't eat but mate and die within about 10 days!
Our 2 moths!
Anyways, back to the story. We brought the 2 moths inside and put them in our butterfly cage. The info we read say they mate for a whole day so that's what's been happening today. Then we need to look for some of their caterpillar's food plants to put in with them and see if the female lays eggs on them. If so, we can watch the cycle start over again if we can find the right food for the caterpillars! We may pin the male after his job is done since he just dies soon anyways. Anyways, it's been a pretty neat learning experience!
Our 2 moths!
Our Journey Into The Country - A Faith Walk