The caterpillar of the domestic silk moth, bred in China for at least 5,000 years to make silk. It eats almost nothing but mulberry leaves, then wraps itself in a cocoon spun from a single raw-silk thread 300–900 m long. The adult moth cannot fly and depends on people to breed.
Quick answers
What is it?Insect
Carnivore?No, herbivore
Dangerous?No
Domesticated?Yes
Fully domesticated: thousands of years of breeding have left the moth unable to fly or to breed without human help.
Awake when?Day & night
Hibernates?No
Kept as a pet?No
Do people eat it?Yes
The pupae are eaten as a snack or dish in Korea (beondegi), China, Japan, Vietnam, Thailand and Assam in India.
At a glance
Found inAsia
ColoursWhite, Cream
SizeTiny
Legs16
Covered inSkin
Lives ingroups
Lives for2 months
Lays eggs
In the wild
- Where it lives
- Kept wherever silk is farmed. It was domesticated in China from the wild silk moth, which ranges from northern India to China, Korea, Japan and far-eastern Russia.
- What it eats
- Almost only the leaves of white mulberry, though it will eat other mulberries and some other plants. The adult moth does not feed at all.
Did you know
Domesticated for over 5,000 years, the adult moth can no longer fly and needs people to breed.
Making one kilogram of silk takes about 4,000–7,000 cocoons.
Cocoons are boiled to unwind the silk, which kills the pupa inside; "Ahimsa silk" lets the moth emerge first.
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