Caterpillar Rearing Project for Schools

Introduction

National Moth Week (NMW) is a global citizen-science project for recording moths. It is held annually for nine days during the last full week and two weekends of July. Usually adult moths are studied during this week, this time however moth caterpillars will also be studied. Our Caterpillar rearing project is part of this initiative.

What are moths? Learn more about these fascinating insects here

Why study Moths?

Moths undergo complete transformation or ‘metamorphosis’ from the early to adult stages. They not only have a physical transformation, their diet, survival instincts, dependency on different senses also change. Growing up to be a moth, every stage of the life cycle is vulnerable to predation, which leads to elaborate methods of defenses that they adopt to deter them. By observing life cycles, students will gain a better insight into mimicry or camouflage in nature. The hostplant database for moths in India is still patchy. Through this initiative, we aim to create an exhaustive database for moth hostplants. Students can learn more about plant-insect interaction, and this programme can facilitate further research in this area, in which there exists a large lacuna in our country.

How to look for a Caterpillar? Find out here

How is the lifecycle of a moth? Find out here

How to identify moth caterpillars from that of butterflies? Check here

About the Project

Duration: 5 June- 31 August 2022

Location: All India (North, South, East, West)

Who can participate? Class 6,7,8 students from any school and individual students.

What is expected from students? Students will rear moth caterpillars to document their life histories. The data need to be uploaded on an external portal.

Are there any prizes to win? Winning school or individual student from each zone will receive their library copy of Field Guide to Indian Moths.

How will be the winners chosen? The highest life history records submitted by any school or individual student will be declared as winner.

How to register?

We are accepting registration forms from schools and individual students. The schools can fill up the form below and submit it alongwith a list of students class wise. Individual students should mention their School name, Class and contact details. Additionally you also need to register at National Moth Week global website so that your schools gets mapped on the globe.

Further details will be shared after registration.

Download resources

Terms & Conditions

The project duration from 15 June to 31 August 2022 with last date of submission being 25 August 2022.
The programme is open only to schools and individual students from all over India.
Any school where students and individual students are allowed to explore the wild outdoors alongwith teachers/parents can apply.
Selected schools will be oriented for the project work through physical or virtual medium.
The project coordinators will provide resources such as datasheets and protocol. This comes absolutely free to the schools.
The school could select any three classes preferably from 6,7,8 standards to work on the project work alongwith their teachers. We would need 10 students from each class/division who could work in pairs.
Individual students can also work on the project alongwith their teachers or parents.
Students are expected to spend a minimum time of one hour in looking for caterpillars outdoors (within the school vicinity or permissible areas in and around schools or around their respective homes and city gardens). This needs to be done once a week, till they find a caterpillar. They should be always accompanied by an adult.
Each pair will rear minimum two caterpillars of same species. Not more than two caterpillars should be collected by any student from the same plant.
Students are expected to feed in their data on weekly basis on to the datasheets and monthly data on to the project portal site.
The school will also nominate one teacher co-ordinator for each class who will ensure the students are collecting data and feeding it to the project website.
The teacher or parent of individual students ahould ensure that their student or child are collecting data and feeding it to the preject website.
The school and individual students should ensure none of the caterpillars are harmed in any manner and all care will be taken while rearing them
Only 15 schools will be selected from each zone (North, South, East and West).
There will be one winner school or individual student from each zone. Schools or individual students with highest records of rearing maximum species of caterpillars will be declared as a winner.
The winning school or individual student will receive Field Guide to Indian Moths as prize for their school library. All participating students, teachers and schools will receive participating certificates.
The school is participating on their own discretion and students and individual students have enlisted in the programme with their parent's consent and at their own risk, and the iNaturewatch and their partners shall not be held responsible wholly or partly for any damage, illness, mishap, injury or accident that occurs during the project work.

Caterpillar Rearing Project for Schools

Introduction

About the Project

Safety Tip

Register

Caterpillar Rearing Project

Happy Caterpillar Rearing

iNaturewatch Foundation

Terms & Conditions

National Moth Week Team

Dr. Pritha Dey

Dr. Vijay Barve

Dr. Vijay Barve

Dr. Vijay Barve

Dr. Vijay Barve

Dr. Vijay Barve

Dr. V.Shubhalaxmi

Dr. V.Shubhalaxmi

Dr. V.Shubhalaxmi

Arjan Basu Roy

Dr. V.Shubhalaxmi

Dr. V.Shubhalaxmi

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