Are Silk Moths Wild Or Domesticated Insects?

Silk moths are the only domesticated insect. They produce silk for people to make clothes and other items. They work incredibly hard, and also have not much choice, completely controlled by humans and dependent on them for survival.

Eggs laid by silkworm moths hatch after about 20 days. The silkworms that emerge are tiny and helpless. They need to be fed a diet of mulberry leaves by the adult moths. They grow rapidly, shedding their skin four times and reach full size in about a month. When they stop feeding and start wagging their heads from side to side, this is a sign that they are ready to spin their cocoons and pupate.

The cocoons are made of pure silk. If they are left along, the silkworm inside breaks down and a silkmoth splits open the cocoon about three weeks later. Silk growers do not want this to happen because the cocoon is spun from a continuous silk thread. They kill the pupa and remove the thread in one piece, ready to be made into silk cloth.