eye-boggling insects

this morning dad's daily activities was disrupted by a "huge butterfly" which refused to leave the warmth of our kitchen; it kept flying back to the cosy area above the stove when dad tried to chase it away. Poor dad spent one hour clearing the clutter in front of a nearby window so that it could be easily chased out while i was sleeping like a pig through all the commotion. =P

Anyway i suspect that it's not a "huge butterfly" but an Atlas Moth (Attacus Atlas), a pretty moth commonly seen in Singapore during November to January. Sadly, it only lives for two weeks in the adult stage, their sole purpose only to find mates to breed.

It's the second spotting of the Atlas Moth in my flat though; i was lucky to spot few years back =D

More information about the Atlas Moth can be found here

Gigantic Moths aside, here's another fun fact about the insect world:
Welcome the case-bearing leaf beetle, in the same order Coleoptera as the dung beetle, which also see goodness in dung.
In this case, the juvenile case-bearing leaf beetle essentially uses its own dung (as well as some provided from mom when they were just eggs) to form an armour around them, thus deterring predators.

"Often the predators did not even investigate the potential meals, presumably because the beetles fooled them into believing they were just turds. As the researchers noted, while predators at times use feces to help track down prey, it seems unlikely most would expect potential victims to dwell within the excrement itself." - LiveScience

Imagine that! A potential predator chancing upon an excretement, and realising that its a clue to a potential prey, and then looks around and wonders "where's food??" when its just right before their very eyes.

Now the next time we pinch our noses at the feces that we see, remember that it's actually important to certain creatures of Nature...
"All hail the dung!"