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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The Millennium at 20
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Burrowing owls
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Point Reyes National Seashore
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Summer solstice
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It s tree-climbing season
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Keep shining
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A walk among the giants
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A wonder in winter
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Let’s talk fossils
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A prison fit for a count
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Grand Teton National Park, Wyoming
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World Teachers Day
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Staircase of turquoise pools
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Gem State views
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A bohemian feline
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American Wetlands Month
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Halo around the sun
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A house of grand scale(s)
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An uncommon look at an American icon
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Great gray owls in their nest, Finland
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Tesla, the visionary
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Bear Hole Brook, Catskill Mountains, New York
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Bioluminescence at Trwyn Du Lighthouse in Wales
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Kagami-ike, Nagano, Japan
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World Giraffe Day
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Bản Giốc–Detian Falls, Vietnam
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Kendwa village, Zanzibar, Tanzania
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Sea Otter Awareness Week
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International Moon Day
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Headed to the High Country