Room 1: Cecropia Moth

We had a special visitor this Monday morning! Our Cecropia Moth cocoon had finally opened, revealing the largest moth any of the children (and the teachers) had ever seen. This species of moth can grow to have a wingspan of over six inches. At first the children were a little apprehensive about getting too close, but they soon warmed up to the moth. You're probably wondering where this cocoon came from. Long story short, Ms. Camardese is the crazy bug lady. A family in the program found the caterpillar and watched it cocoon in their garage. Feeling as though they could not provide it adequate care over the winter, they brought the cocoon to Ms. Camardese and asked if she would care for it. Over eight months later (three months spent in Ms. Camardese's fridge) the moth finally made her presence known. Yes, we discovered in our research that it was a female moth.

This beautiful brown, orange and red moth has a very short life span. Their main goal in life is to find a mate. We were shocked to learn the moth does not have a mouth or digestive organs. The children, of course, were very curious about this and came up with some creative solutions about ways to help the moth eat. Some thought we could use a straw or eye dropper. Other children thought she might grow up and have a mouth later in life. They just could not understand there was no need for the moth to eat. We continued our research, trying to find out as much as we could about the moth. We learned it is nocturnal, is native in much of the Northeastern United States and only lays about 10 eggs each time. The caterpillars prefer Maple or Cherry trees as their host plant and the moths can seek each other out over seven miles away.

Realizing the moth's life was so short, we released her this morning. The family who found her as a caterpillar came in to observe her release. We were excited to have them there. The girls in the family had originally named the caterpillar Bob, but when they found out it was a female they renamed her Hazel. At first she fluttered around the garden, trying to get an understanding of where she was. We left her in the shade of the chive plant to sort out her plan. When we returned a half hour later the moth had disappeared. We can only wish Hazel safe travels at this point!