This is the fourth time that the Arctic caterpillar Mira has awoken in the spring.
Mira shook her somewhat stiff head, slowly stretched her curly body, and slowly crawled out from under the rocks and onto the nearby grass. She ate a bite of the young leaves, the smell of grass and earth, into her mouth, into the stomach, the taste is really wonderful. Having just woken up to eat such food, Mira felt that life was so beautiful.
She continued to climb up the blades of grass, and the fluff on her body stood up, so that the warm sunlight could shine into every crevice of her body. Mira knew that spring and summer in the Arctic were short,000 years and needed to hurry up and graze and grow up fast.
Arctic caterpillars eating, screenshot from the BBC documentary Frozen Planet
Mira carefully climbed along the horizontal blades of grass to another slightly taller grass, and although it was a little difficult, she managed to do it. She tasted a few bites of the tender leaves on top, absolutely delicious. This fat green meadow can satisfy Mira's strong appetite.
After a few bites, Mira's stomach was a little bloated, and her head was a little sleepy. "I really can't eat too much at once", Mira muttered a few words, decided to rest on the blades of grass, and did not expect to have a beautiful dream:
In the dream, it transformed into a gray lantern and danced with her friends on the flower-filled grass, more beautiful than the group of dancing moth sisters that Mira saw last year.
The poisonous sun shone on the tentacles, Mira opened her eyes, the food in her stomach was digested, and the dream she had just had was still sweet. The sun hangs so tirelessly in the air that it doesn't want to set at all.
Polar daylight is coming.
Mira's appetite is like the never-ending sun. She's going to eat food again. Eat enough to sleep, wake up to eat.
By the time the cool autumn breeze blew, Mira's body was already a circle larger than when she woke up.
Shrunken Arctic Caterpillars, screenshot from the BBC documentary Frozen Planet
"It's so cold," it shrank, shrinking smaller and smaller, shrinking into a small ball like a hedgehog. But Mira was eventually too small, and the fluff sticking out was soft and soft, not piercing at all.
It was getting colder, and autumn dew wrapped around Mira and froze into ice. Its bodily fluids solidified, and it looked far from it like a stiff ice worm.
I don't know whether she was sleepy or frozen, Mira fell asleep, slept for a long time, for a long time, I don't know how long: it seems to have crossed the long and dark polar night, it seems to have spent the hard time of cocooning into pupae, and it seems to have 365 dancing dreams.
<h1 class = "pgc-h-arrow-right" >01 cocoon-breaking moth</h1>
It was a long time before Mira woke up again, and the ice that had frozen around her slowly melted. It rolled, rolled out of the rock, and became a caterpillar that bounced around alive; and then began another year of eating, sleeping, and eating.
Just like that, I woke up, fell asleep, and repeated it for ten years. Mira finally pupated into a moth at the age of 14.
This year, the Arctic spring comes particularly early, and the muscular Mira can effortlessly climb to the nearby grass blades to nibble on the young leaves. As she ate, something wonderful happened, and she involuntarily spat out silk. After a few days, Mira was wrapped in her cocoon.
Arctic caterpillar cocoon, screenshot from the BBC documentary Frozen Planet
Mira slept again and dreamed of dancing again. When she woke up, she found herself transformed into the Arctic Lamp Moth. Mira shook her body, much lighter than before. It climbed out with difficulty and flapped its wings like the sisters it had seen before, but it didn't succeed.
A warm wind blew the mucus off the wings, and Mira was able to fly shakily. Although it does not fly high, it does not fly fast. She flew a few times and mastered the art of flying. The feeling of flying is so wonderful, much better than climbing.
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" >02 Nila is also an Arctic lamp moth</h1>
The second thing Mira did after she began to turn into a lamp moth – laying eggs. She twisted her body and laid the first pile of eggs on the grass, then flew to another higher grass to lay eggs; then flew to a higher grass to lay eggs...
Mira saw a meadow in the distance with bright flowers. At this time, there are few flowers blooming in the Arctic. Mira decided to fly over, and before she could fly to the ground, she heard a voice behind her: Sister, you are flying so well! Mira looked back and saw a gray woman who was a little smaller than herself.
The smaller lamp moth danced and introduced itself to Mira. Her name is Neela, she has just broken out of her cocoon and likes to fly high. Her dream is to lay eggs all over the Arctic, so that the whole Arctic will have the presence of lamp moths.
(Moths collecting honey, the moth in the picture is not the Arctic lamp moth)
Mira and Nila went hand in hand and decided to go to the flower-filled area to lay their eggs first. Falling on top of the flower, they found a pale light moth lying leisurely on it.
"Nasty fellow, who are you?" Nila roared unceremoniously.
"Shout something, be careful to shout the birds!" The pale body of the lamp moth replied.
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" >03 The four friends are initially similar</h1>
Mira looked up at the sky, and a few birds just flew by. She pulled Nila quickly into hiding under the flower. The lamp moth was also hidden. Under the cover of blades of grass and flowers, the three of them whispered.
The pale-bodied lamp moth said that his name was Kula and he had grown up here since he was a child. Here, it had seen a mother polar bear leading her baby foraging for food, and on one occasion, the mother polar bear had caught a seal. "The polar bear's white fur is much prettier than the gray of the lamp."
Polar bears living in the Arctic
After the bird flew by, Kula flew with Mira and Nira to find his best friend, Carla, a timid caterpillar. Carla poked her head out from under a yellow flower, it had just turned into a lamp moth not long ago, the slime on its body had not dried up, and it could not fly. Mira, Nira, and Kura carefully fanned Kara off the slime and taught her the art of flying.
Carla learned very quickly, flapping her wings a few times and flying high. "You fly as high as a bird," Nila cried below.
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" >04 The magical dream of a good friend</h1>
Hearing this, Carla fell to the ground. Kula pushed Nila next to her hard and quickly lifted Up Carla. It turned out that Carla had always been afraid of birds, and she couldn't even hear the word "bird".
At the age of 2, Carla saw a big bird eat her brother. It cried and left the place where it grew up and moved here.
In this piece of the best scenery in the Arctic, Kura has always protected it, taking it to see narwhals and polar bears and amusing it.
They slept together, awoke together, and passed for many years.
Nila knew she had said the wrong thing and immediately apologized to Carla. Carla said it was okay. It hadn't seen so many of its kind in a long time, and it was very happy and wanted to be friends with everyone. It shared its dream with friends – not being afraid of birds. Then invite friends to share their dreams.
Kula wondered why her body was whitish.
Nira wants to make every corner of the North Pole appear in the figure of the lantern.
Mira is going to dance the most beautiful lantern moth dance in the Arctic with her best friends.
On that day, several good friends agreed to help each other and realize their dreams. They travel together and decide to help Nila realize her dream first. They fly around and lay eggs nearby everywhere they go.
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" >05 Strange big bird</h1>
On this day, four good friends came to a wide meadow under the rock to lay their eggs separately. When Kara turned back from laying her eggs, she saw a touch of gray, the same color as Kura's wings. It quickly caught up, trying to flap Kura's wings.
Unexpectedly, the gray turned back to his head, and it was actually a big bird. Kura fainted in fright, but nila arrived in time to catch it.
(Snow, image source: Birdnet, author is DL Lao Le)
The three good friends hid the frightened Carla under a large flower. After a while, Carla woke up, and he told his friend what had happened. Nila said bluntly that the big white bird was a snow trumpet. It once heard the Arctic Fox say that the snow horn is well-informed, not a small moth. "I guess it probably knows why Kula's body is whitish," Nira said of her thoughts.
Several good friends decided to go and ask the snow together. They sneaked up to where Kara met the Snow Horn. "Hello, Mr. Snow, we'll ask you about something," Cried Mira boldly.
In fact, before the four good friends could discover the exact location of the snow, the snow's sharp eyes had already discovered them. Snow fell next to the four of them and said, "What's the matter?" ”
Seeing the bird of the size of the Snow Horn, Carla's wings trembled, but it still insisted on not falling to the ground.
Snow saw Carla's concern and let out an oval laugh that sounded a little frightening. Snow then said, "Rest assured, I am not interested in little moths and caterpillars and will not eat you." ”
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" >06 Secret of the White Wing</h1>
Mira walked over to the snow, pointed at Kura and said, "The light moths are all gray, but my friend Kula is as gray as your coat, what is the reason?" Snow looked at Kura and said, "When I was in the south, I saw moths all over their bodies, but unlike your friends." Your friend's gray wings are more like a genetic mutation. ”
"What is a genetic mutation?" Nila shook her tentacles and asked.
Snow spread her wings and said, "Genetic mutation, you can understand it like this." Usually snow trumpets have wings that are only so small, and my wings are much larger than theirs. But apart from the big wings, I still only snow. ”
Snow went on to say that he had seen a gray-bodied lamp moth elsewhere a year earlier, and he speculated that Kula's mother might be a mutated lamp moth.
Knowing why, Kula stepped forward and said, "Mr. Snow." Flowers in the Arctic usually bloom only now, but the same flowers in the place where I live always bloom early. Early blooming flowers are also a genetic mutation."
Snow nodded. Its afterglow swept to a sneaky lemming, did not greet the lamp moth friend, and directly caught the lemming. Take a slow step and the lemming will slip away.
After waiting for a long time, the snow still did not return. The lamp moth friends had to leave first. On the way back, Kula flew higher and higher, shouting happily, "It turns out that I am also a lamp moth, but the color of my wings is different from that of my friends."
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" >07 Achieve your dreams</h1>
Throughout the polar day, the four friends flew to almost every corner they could fly to. At the moment when the flowers were about to wither, Carla was a little excited to tell her friend that the birds were not so terrible, and I didn't seem to be so afraid of birds anymore.
It seems that the dreams of the three good friends have come true. So, what about Mira's dream?
On this day, the four best friends flew to the place where Mira was born, where there was a gray-white rock, very close to the color of Kura's wings. Friends want to help Mira realize her dreams and dance the most beautiful moth dance in the Arctic.
Shake the tentacles, wave your wings, twist your body, rock back and forth, swing left and right, one in front of the other, one left and one right.
Four good friends, Mira, Nila, Kula and Carla, dance during the flower season. Jumping and jumping, the cold came.
I don't know if they froze or fell asleep, and they never woke up again. ，
Resources:
1. BBC Documentary Frozen Planet
2. Bird Net Snow related information