Atlas Butterfly

I couldn't work out how to directly link so here is a copy paste from:

http://internetsdairy.livejournal.com/

...But! It turns out that not only are the hummingbirds in cages with a very fine mesh, there is a roped-off exclusion zone of a couple of metres in front of the hummingbird cages themselves. Hummingbirds are pretty small - it's only recently that biologists realised they weren't flying germs - so all you can really see is a sort of darting silhouette that could be any animal at all, really. A bee. A donkey. A tapir.

Still, I did get to see the Atlas moth, the biggest moth in the world. Here's one next to a handy hand to indicate scale:


Actually, that hand is not a good indication of scale at all, is it? It might belong to a doll, or a giant, for all you know.

This is better: an Atlas moth filling the interior of St Paul's Cathedral. The downdraft from its wings has just knocked over a London bus:


Atlas moths only live for about ten days, and they don't have mouths. Might these two facts be related? Stupid creatures.