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Submitted via IRC for Bytram
The most common moth in the west is called the miller, and it is the adult of the army cutworm. Researchers are just now starting to understand the intricate relationship between this supposed-pest and bears, but that relationship is very important.
Each summer, moths of the army cutworm fly into tall mountain rocky slides, where they burrow away from the intense mountain sunlight into dark crevices. Hundreds of thousands of them. These moths come from farmland many miles away to these high, remote mountain slopes in Yellowstone.
At these places of slide rock and sunshine, both grizzly and black bears gather each year, climbing high above timberline to feed on the moths. The bears will dig through the slide rock and eat the moths that they uncover. It is estimated that some 40,000 moths per day can end up in the stomach of a hungry bear.
It's amazing how many calories you can get out of a single Mothra.
Source: https://www.yellowstonepark.com/things-to-do/bears-eat-moths-in-august
(Score: 2) by linkdude64 on Monday July 24 2017, @06:58PM
"1 moth per second"
I cannot imagine the bears are eating the moths with chopsticks. Have you ever seen a bear's mouth? It could easily fit 30 moths inside of it. Two chomps a minute? A very reasonable figure for a bear chewing on food as delicate as moths.