In the Lepidoptera order of the animal kingdom, it’s butterflies who get all the glory. But we’d argue it’s their relatives, moths, that have the better story. With more than 160,000 species of moths around the world, moths outnumber butterfly species roughly 10 to 1. While most are nocturnal, the hummingbird hawk-moth on our homepage today breaks the mold. Found throughout Africa, Asia, and Europe, it’s shown here in the daylight of southern Sardinia, sipping nectar with its straw-like appendage known as a proboscis. Like a hummingbird, the moth makes a soft buzzing sound as it hovers over the flowers whose nectar it feeds on exclusively.
Let’s go mothing
Today in History
More Desktop Wallpapers:
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Martin Luther King Day
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Grand finish of Le Tour
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Rock House in Hocking Hills State Park, Ohio
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Breaking the fast for Eid
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Entoloma hochstetteri mushroom at Lake Mahinapua, New Zealand
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Swim city
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The Wave at Coyote Buttes
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Denali National Park
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The Millennium at 20
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Ljubljana, Slovenia
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League of Nations, 100 years later
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Diwali lights in Guwahati, India
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From Sputnik to extraterrestrial storms
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South Beach in Miami Beach, Florida
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A silent witness to history
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A willowy welcome to spring
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Tegallalang terrace farms in Ubud, Bali, Indonesia
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High tide at the walled city
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Winter Olympics in Beijing
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What s better than a smile?
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Autumn comes to Old Town
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What s going on in this sky?
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Feast of the Donkey
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Brown bears in Lake Clark National Park and Preserve, Alaska
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Pont Alexandre III, Paris, France
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Taughannock Falls State Park
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Flamenco dancers
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Chapel on the rock
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Carnival of Venice
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First Cliff Walk