Tamil Nadu: Hawkmoth creates flutter near MTR

OOTY: Movement of ‘Death’s-head Hawkmoth’ resembling a human skull, created flutters in the jungle hamlets around Mudumalai tiger reserve (MTR) as foresters brushed aside the rumours about entry of an unknown animal into the woods.

A couple of days ago, a resident in Mudukuli jungle hamlet in the MTR fringes is said to have spotted a strange small animal with human skull like appearance moving around the woods.

Its dracula-like appearance triggered fears as well as curiosity among the residents there. 

The foresters at MTR, apparently not in a mood to take any chances, set up camera traps inside the woods on Friday wherein the strange animals was said to have been spotted.

But, after two days, the forest officials brushed aside the “strange animal’ theory and said that it was nothing but the ‘Death’s-head Hawkmoth’, whose dorsal upper portion along the head resembles a human skull.   

Speaking to DC about this development, Mr. V.A. Saravanan, deputy director of MTR, said that this moth, a rarely sighted species, was spotted in Bospara range of the MTR. The camera trap analysis revealed that it was ‘Death’s-head Hawkmoth’. “ There is no need for any panic on this,” he noted.

N. Sadiq Ali, honorary wildlife warden in Nilgiris, said that the ‘Death’s-head Hawkmoth’, though common in the jungles, is a rarely sighted moth species.