At the Beijing Wildlife Park, people spent their “Golden Week” holiday hunting for fall webworm larvae.
This is an invasive species of caterpillar that is originally from North America. It can damage more than 300 plant species, including crops and fruit trees. The park has called it “the forest food monster”.
The park asked visitors to catch as many of the caterpillars as possible. Those with the biggest hauls got prizes, including as many as 10 park tickets.
After a lesson on how to spot the larvae, participants spread out across the park with disposable gloves, plastic containers and chopsticks.
“Call for warriors! Battle the ‘forest food monster’ and win grand prizes!” read a poster behind a table stacked with containers of caterpillars.
As of October 5, more than 310,000 caterpillars were caught by some 2,077 people since the competition began on September 28. Their combined weight was 47.65kg.
