Focus on Arts and Ecology

Dear Jon,

Welcome back to our Featured Creature series, where we share a creature whose evolutionary traits, special role within its ecosystem, or fun facts have captured our attention. 

This week we ask,

What nocturnal creatures native to North America are known for their beauty and the fact that they don't eat at all in their adult life?

Luna moths!

When I was little I used to think the woods were magic. I read Enid Blyton’s The Magic Faraway Tree and imagined what fantastical creatures I might meet if I got to wander through the forest. For the most part, my adventures were confined to chasing fireflies in New York City parks, but that was enough to convince me I was onto something. Those lucky enough to meet the tree-dwelling luna moth might agree, because these big bright fluttering beauties would fit right into any fantasy setting. 

The luna moth, or Actias luna, is a species of giant silk moth endemic to North America. It is known for its distinctive shape, green color, and shockingly long wingspan of up to 7 inches! In discussing the biodiversity we are fighting for by restoring landscapes and rewilding our built environment, the lovely luna moth has come up several times for the sheer wonder it brings people. Like a real-life tinkerbell, this intricate insect inspires us with its beauty and shows how much transformation a single individual can undergo in a lifetime. 

While many animals (and particularly insects), can challenge our human perspective of time with their fleeting life spans, the luna moth takes this to new extremes. Not only do adult luna moths live for just a week, but they have a very clear purpose in that time to mate and reproduce. They are so single-minded that they don’t undertake one of the other major activities of the natural world - eating! The luna moth emerges from its cocoon with all the energy needed to carry out its week of mature adult life.

Though it may be brief, the luna moth’s existence, from egg to adult stage, with all the growth and survival that entails, is anything but simple.

Updates

Besides celebrating fascinating creatures all over the globe, we are working to educate and shape communities around the regeneration of our planet. Check out some recent and upcoming events below.

· Saturday January 21 - Redesigning our Communities for Life After Fossil Fuels -  Read more and register

· Thursday January 26 - Grassfed Beef for a Post-Pandemic World - Stay tuned for talk registration and find out more about the book

· Recent article in the Boston Globe - Tiny Urban Woodlands, Big Biodiversity - Read the opinion piece on our Miyawaki Forests

With that, I’ll flutter off for now,

 Maya Dutta

P.S. We love sending out these Featured Creatures each week, and we hope you're enjoying them. You can help us keep our Featured Creature series going, along with all our other work to spread ecosystem restoration and heal the Earth, by making a gift today. Many thanks!

Our Contact Information

Biodiversity for a Livable Climate

P.O. Box 390469
Cambridge, MA 02139

781-674-2339