About this campaign
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Every year, during the last week of July, National Moth Week celebrates the beauty, life cycles, and habitats of moths and helps spread awareness of these important insects whose global populations are rapidly declining. People of all ages and abilities are encouraged to learn about, observe, and document moths in their backyards, parks, and neighborhoods.
Join BEAT for our National Moth Week event and become a Community Scientist! Learn more and RSVP: Observing Moths at Night: A Lightsheet & Mothing Demonstration with Matthew Rymkiewicz
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Moths play a vital role in food webs. As adults and caterpillars, they are an important food item for many other species?from songbirds to amphibians to mammals and even other insects. Interestingly, moths also play a role in some bear species? diets; bears can eat up to 40,000 moths per day! They?re also crucial pollinators, especially those that are active at night. A recent study found that nocturnal moths are more efficient pollinators than bees because they pollinate more plants in a shorter amount of time, and another recent study found that moths are the second-most productive pollinator, after the bumblebee, for some plants.
Moths are closely related to butterflies, sharing the same taxonomical Order (Lepidoptera), and moths make up the vast majority of this Order. There are over 160,000 known moth species worldwide?11,000 of which are found in the U.S. In comparison, there are only about 17,500 butterfly species.
However, moths are often overlooked due to their nocturnal habits (although some moths are day-flyers) and often have drab appearances compared to the bright colors of butterflies. But there are many moth species whose colors and patterns are quite dazzling; other times, they can be so cryptic that they define camouflage. Additionally, their shapes and sizes range from as small as 2.5 mm (that?s about the width of a grain of rice!) to as large as an adult?s hand. Regardless of size or color, they?re a wonder to behold and should be appreciated for their beauty and importance to global ecosystems.
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The Giant Leopard Moth (Hypercompe scribonia) is a medium-sized North American moth in the family Erebidae. It can be easily identified in its adult form by its bright white wings with numerous black spots, many of which are hollow (white) in the center. Some dark spots are iridescent blue in the light on male Giant Leopard Moths. The males are also smaller than the females, which is the standard with moths. The abdomen?typically hidden by its wings?has striking horizontal lines of iridescent blue, orange, and black.
As a caterpillar, the Giant Leopard Moth is black with red sections between its body segments. Due to the spiky, stiff black hairs that line its body, it's often mistaken for a woolly bear, otherwise known as the Isabella tiger moth (Pyrrharctia isabella). Like all moths, it plays an important role in pollination and the food web and is a favorite of birds and bats.
By purchasing a Giant Leopard Moth t-shirt, you?ll help BEAT continue to protect the environment, educate, and bring awareness to the importance of wildlife?including moths! The design was hand-painted by a BEAT staff member and is printed using the direct-to-garment (DTG) method, which will keep the design from peeling as it ages and goes through washes.
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Berkshire Environmental Action Team (BEAT) is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit located in Pittsfield, Massachusetts. Its mission is to protect the environment for wildlife in support of the natural world that sustains us all. BEAT has three major focal areas: stewardship, education & outreach, and watchdogging. Through its work, BEAT enacts meaningful change throughout Berkshire County, western Massachusetts, and beyond.
Anyone who knows BEAT will tell you that they take the ?action? part of our name seriously, and they believe an informed and empowered citizenry is the environment?s best protection. BEAT involves hundreds of volunteers every year in programs to restore, protect, and improve the condition of our woods, wetlands, and waterways. Learn more at https://www.thebeatnews.org/
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Sources
Yellowstone Bears Actually Eat Moths for Food | Smart NewsSmithsonian Magazinehttps://www.smithsonianmag.com ? smart-news ? yellow...
For the Love of Moths | Xerces SocietyXerces Societyhttps://xerces.org ? blog ? for-love-of-moths
MothsSmithsonian Institutionhttps://www.si.edu ? spotlight ? buginfo ? moths
Moths Are the Unsung Heroes of Pollination | Smart NewsSmithsonian Magazinehttps://www.smithsonianmag.com ? smart-news ? mot...
Moths are more efficient pollinators than bees, shows new ...Science Dailyhttps://www.sciencedaily.com ? releases ? 2023/03
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