11 Gawk-Worthy Photos From History That Will Leave You Speechless

A large hawk moth with a wingspan of 90–130 mm

The Death Head Moth, also called the Death’s-head Hawkmoth, is the most widely recognized moth species due to its skull-like patterns on their thorax. This strange-looking moth in the photo is part of the Acherontia species, which apart from making squeaking sounds when annoyed, it also scares its predators with its bright, yellow-marked abdomen.

The Death Head Moth usually attacks beehives in search of honey, but not just any beehives. They are quite fussy when it comes to what they eat, so they only raid the beehives of the well-known Western honeybee, Apis mellifera. It’s quite resistant to bee stings and venom and can easily blend in with the bees, by mimicking their scent.

Being the predators that they are, the Death Head Moths appeared on the poster for the 1991 Oscar winning movie silence of the Lambs, while in the movie itself, serial killer Buffalo Bill stuffed them into his victims’ throats, as a symbol for his own metamorphosis