Remember that spooky moth on the cover of the classic horror film – 'Silence of the Lambs'? Well, it turns out there’s more to that moth than just looking creepy. The Death’s-head hawkmoth is a clever little insect, it migrates for miles and even knows how to navigate. You might say, it’s a pilot!

4ZZZ's intrepid reporter, Anita Diamond, interviewed Dr Myles Menz, who conducted a recent study revealing how the Death's-head hawkmoth migrates. 

For a deep dive...

Here is Dr Myles Menz's bio page and a link to his full study on the Death's-head hawkmoth. On Dr Myles' bio page, you can find further resources and other studies which Dr Myles has worked on. Dr Myles Menz is a lecturer in Zoology and Ecology at James Cook University. If you want to learn about the wild pollinator count for citizen science, click here. Users can also submit their observations to iNaturalist.

Discover more on Moths or other insects via the following resources:

• Australian Museum 


• Queensland Museum


• CSIRO published - 'Hawkmoths of Australia' by Maxwell Moulds, James Tuttle and David Lane