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Atlas Moth
By Peace | January 10, 2012
Attacus atlas (Atlas Moth); Female
On the way home from Woodlands Civic Centre. Somewhere along the pedestrian pathway, I noticed a woman taking photograph of something in the field. Walking there, I was amazed at the sight of a huge ‘butterfly’. Looking closer, I saw 2 huge feathery antennae that looked so nice. It got to be a moth, a very huge moth.
I brought the huge moth home to show the children. It was mentioned in the website that this is a common moth in Singapore! But I had not seen this moth until now!
Huge Feathery Antennae of the Atlas Moth
This is my first time witnessing such a big moth of this color, and first time seeing such beautiful feathery antennae.
The moth laid eggs when it reached my home! The eggs were spherical and looked woody (Spherical like iron balls). Since it laid eggs, it got to be a female. It was fat at the centre (the body). As it was so huge, it was rather immobile.
Female Atlas Moth laying eggs
Richard said that I did not feed the moth. We don’t know what the moth eat also. But checking the internet, it was said that the moth do not eat at all! It mainly used its own reserves (those food that its caterpillar stage had eaten) because its mouth was too small)! Because of this, its life span is about 1-2 weeks only! Amazing isn’t it.
The female Atlas Moth was with me till the next day. The next day, when coming back from Isaac’s school, something amazing happened. Another huge Atlas Moth appeared in front of our doorstep, near our corridor garden. This one could be a male since the body was slimmer.
This time round, I put the two moth together in our corridor garden, in one of the money plant pot. The female Atlas Moth became active again this time, flapping its wings intermittently.
I just let the 2 moths rest in the money plant pot in my garden.
The next moment when I see the moths, the female was laying eggs, ‘bundle’ of eggs under the leaf of the money plant, and also eggs sticking on the side of the corridor wall! It looked disgusting to me with so many eggs sticking together.
Attacus atlas (Atlas moth); Male
Reading so much information about the Atlas Moth on the internet, especially the life cycle, I am not ready to accept the ‘babies’. Luckily I have Richard to help me to remove all the eggs — cut off the leaf.
Today the male Moth end its life. It was dead. The whereabout of the female moth was not known since last night.
Topics: animals, collection, entertainment, home, Nature, Singapore, View All | 1 Comment »
January 10th, 2012 at 11:33 pm
[...] a wingspan of up to a foot in length, the great Atlas Moth is believed to be the world’s largest moth. The Atlas Moth has a wingspan of 25-30 cm and the [...]