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Park Visitors Hunt 'Forest Food Monsters'
5 Oct
Summary
- Beijing Wildlife Park encouraged visitors to catch invasive caterpillars.
- Participants collected over 310,000 caterpillars weighing 47.65 kg.
- Prizes, including park tickets, were awarded for the heaviest caterpillar haul.
Beijing Wildlife Park launched an unusual "Golden Week" holiday activity, encouraging visitors to hunt for fall webworm larvae, an invasive caterpillar species.
Visitors, armed with gloves and containers, spread across the nearly 550-acre park to capture the pests. The park offered prizes, including park tickets, to those who collected the most caterpillars by weight.
Since the competition began on September 28, over 2,077 participants have captured more than 310,000 caterpillars, with a combined weight of 47.65 kg. The fall webworm is a significant pest in China, known to damage over 300 plant species.
The park's initiative aims to control the spread of this damaging insect, which is currently at peak damage levels in Beijing due to its third annual generation of larvae.
