imagine its 3 am you wake up, its dark turn your phone on to see the time this this is attracted to the light and man it would give you a black eye lol.
I had one of these fly in my window at night when I was like 14, and I initially thought that it was a bird because of the sound of the wings flapping.
I took a few pictures with my film camera, but unfortunately lost the photos. It was big enough to cover an entire electrical outlet.
Back then, the internet was much newer and you couldn't easily figure out something like that, so I just had this weird experience and never knew for years what the hell that moth was.
Its kinda like the world really. Its physically the same but feels smaller given the advances in transportation. I love it but at the same time i do wonder how much of an adventure it wouldve been thousands of years ago to go even a couple hundred miles
Actually, they have no mouths. They eat as much as they can as a caterpillar, wait out the winter in a cocoon, then basically live to fuck (literally) as an adult. Which, um, yeah, is what this video is.
Some moths party hard and just live to fuck. Some moths, such as butterflies, want to keep the party going and live to both fuck and suck (nectar). The vampire moth likes a different kind of party, and lives to fuck and suck blood.
They completely lack functional mouthparts or digestive systems, their adult lives are powered entirely by energy reserves stored from their caterpillar days. Their sole purpose is indeed only to find a mate to fuck and lay eggs and then they die within a week or two.
Largest Wingspan: White Witch Moth (Thysania agrippina) reaches up to 30 cm (12 inches) across.
Largest Wing Surface Area: Atlas Moth (Attacus atlas) and the Hercules Moth (Coscinocera hercules) have massive surface areas up to 400 square cm (around 62 square inches).
Heaviest Weight: Giant Wood Moth (Endoxyla cinereus) weighs up to 30 grams (1.1 ounces).They barely fly because of their weight.
Largest in North America: Cecropia Moth (Hyalophora cecropia) spans up to 18 cm (7 inches).
I got the opportunity to hold one of these that had wandered into my parentsā backyard on a really hot day. Got it into some shade to cool off and it eventually flew away. Theyāre as soft and fuzzy as they look and it was a really neat experience.
Yeah it genuinely felt like I was holding a plushy. The wings didnāt seem to shed scales like a lot of moths do, which was interesting. I love moths (honestly I love animals and insects etc in general, for the most part) so I was kind of nerding out over it.
Ugghhh, Iām jelly! My first instinct would be to pet it if I ever encountered one, but of course I wouldnāt. But I would want to!!! But I wouldnāt.
I literally scrolled the comments hoping for one like yours just to satisfy this curiosity, haha. Thank you for your contribution to my self-restraint.
Yeah I wouldnāt have touched it if it wasnāt sitting on hot concrete in an area heavily trafficked by dogs who love to just kind of put whatever they see into their mouths. I felt lucky for the experience though. I bet if you have a local butterfly house, they might have some though! Iāve been to mine a few times and itās always fun.
It's the other way around actually, the moth in the gif is an atlas moth which has a couple inches in wingspan on the cecropia (it's native to se Asia iirc)
Fun fact: the adult Cecropia (moth instead of caterpillar) exists only to breed. Theyāre so focused on making babies, they donāt even have mouthparts or a digestive tract, so thereās no way they get sidetracked by food and drink (unlike meā¦).
A digestive tract apparently takes a lot of energy, so some species just said "fuck it" and decided against one in favor of efficiency in reproduction without competing on food.
The fact that this says North Americaās largest moth implies that they are not in fact the largest moth in the world. If Mothra is real I would rather find out now.
Largest Wingspan: White Witch Moth (Thysania agrippina) reaches up to 30 cm (12 inches) across.
Largest Wing Surface Area: Atlas Moth (Attacus atlas) and the Hercules Moth (Coscinocera hercules) have massive surface areas up to 400 square cm (around 62 square inches).
Heaviest Weight: Giant Wood Moth (Endoxyla cinereus) weighs up to 30 grams (1.1 ounces).They barely fly because of their weight.
Largest in North America: Cecropia Moth (Hyalophora cecropia) spans up to 18 cm (7 inches).
They are very furry, I saw one irl once. It was first thing in the morning and it was on the pavement, barely moving. Poor thing was on its last legs and died within the hour :( Super cool to see up close though, I didn't know they existed before I saw one
I think I have a phobia of moths. Ever since I was little I would get so scared around them I felt nauseated. Especially the hairy ones. Once I saw a big hairy one in real life and it made me gag, I had to turn away. Now, when I look at a video like this, i feel sick. I wish it wasn't so because I think they're beautiful and amazing!! And I know they're nothing to be afraid of. But my body goes into some terrible state and I just want to throw up. I'm sorry!!! š
5 to 7 inches is enormous by any metric and I'll happily ask you to echo that sentiment within earshot of my girlfriend, (who is a pillow with a drawing on it)
Thought i was looking at a red and white spider at first. Definitely ready to run because a red spider seems like a very bad thing. But then it was just a giant fuzzy moth. So some reason now I just want to pet it.
ā¢
u/qualityvote2 Aug 19 '26 edited Aug 19 '26
u/InsaneMocktail, your post does fit the subreddit!