The other day, my friend Wysti gave me this incredible moth which she found...
It's name is Antheraea polyphemus and it is a giant wild silk moth.
Have a close look...this guy is incredible...first of all, the size of it. They can get as long as 5 1/2" long.
At first it was just so pretty to look at and then I started researching the life of these moths.
They coccoon all winter and then hatch out in the spring....looking for love.
Unfortunately he had lost one of his antennae but aren't they lovely? Like a tiny furry fern...
This moth, when it hatches into the adult form only lives for a week and doesn't eat during this time.
It's only purpose is to find a female and reproduce.
Sometimes flying for miles just to find her...
I find it ever so humbling to discover these other layers of life which go on around us.
Most of us oblivious to these small wonders...
His body fur reminded me of a Highland cow...
I imagine him fluttering about at night...
for a week...
looking for that mate...
somewhere out there..
"I lingered around them, under the benign sky;
watched the moths fluttering among the heath and hare-bells;
listened to the soft wind breathing through the grass;
and wondered how anyone could ever imagine unquiet slumbers, for the sleepers in that quiet earth."
Emily Jane Bronte
Wuthering Heights
