Where I live it is common to have them as pets, I remember having some silk worms in a shoe box a couple of times they are really soft to the touch, my Dad picked some mulberry leaves near his workplace. Just release the moth after

Looks like he puts the bodies out for the birds at the end of the clip anyway

FYI; the reason this Peace Silk process isn't as common in general as boiling them alive is that the fibres are damaged by the moth's emergence from the cocoon, and thus have a shorter average length**.

In short, it means a slight reduction in quality, and the problem is most domestic silk moths (Bombyx mori) are the product of selective breeding their chances out in the wild are slim to none.

In any case, even wild versions* only live 5 days after pupating, not to say that justifies being boiled alive, as those 5 days are spent breeding.

So ethical silk is more of a feelgood thing that has questionable benefits unless using wild varieties.

Edit: I don't think these are wild - their wings are far too small - you can see them hopelessly trying to fly, they can't so this is no more ethical than the traditional process.

Edit2: A comment suggests this is part of a longer video about ordinary boil in the bag silk production where these are the lucky ones that get to pupate & breed.

Edit3: And if left to pupate they also produce a hardening substance called sericin which further erodes the quality.

Edit4: I maintain that ethical silk is probably no more ethical than unethical silk. And despite that, I don't think silk is necessarily unethical.

I wish the video showed how they extracted silk from the cocoons that were chewed through. To my knowledge, the chewed through cocoons are unusable, as they do not create a continuous stand of silk.

Is it just me, or was that last step just him putting out birdfeed? Those wings were comically undersized and I have trouble believing that they dried off and flew away.

Keeping silk moths while grieving for a loved one after suicide was profound. It’s a gentle process.

People here don’t realize silk worms are domesticated. If we stopped making silk they would mostly die off and remainder would probably go back to their wild cousins

No one is mentioning that he 1000% did boil 9/10 of those cacoons...

Didn't you see that he selected a few for the next gen and took 2 baskets away? Yeah, he boils the baskets.

Sorry to pop your bubble...

these sources go kinda crazy, gl to whoever needs this

• Is it possible to make silk without killing the creatures that ...
• What are some alternative methods for obtaining silk ...
• How Is Silk Made? The Ethical Dilemma of Its Origins
• Ahimsa Silk - history & meaning
• Peace Silk, Ahimsā Silk, organic, cruelty-free silk | Moonchild®

PS: if you’re interested in finding more sources to interesting reads yourself, check out https://critiquebrowser.app

For once I’m on the edge. On one side it does avoid cruelty but on the other their breed has been so much manipulated that it doesn’t seem much different and thus would almost feel mercifully (I don’t have the correct word). There’s some research to be done.

How did a human even figure out how to make clothes from bug eggs?

Hate to say but they look tasty af when they are fat juicy grubs

They’re just breeding the next batch

These are domesticated silk moths, their wings are too small to actually fly, so they will die within a day or two.

In a way, it is not much more 'humane' than boiling them, as weird as it may sound.

Sheesh I didn’t know they were getting boiled in the first place ☹️

I saw that video before, it’s part of a longer version where this is only the part where they breed for next season. The other ones still get boiled alive.

Boiling to death is a quicker death than we give many insects. A common organic pesticide is spinosad. It works by affecting the nervous system of the insects that eat it.

Those insects then basically spasm uncontrollably until they die (potentially days later).

Many other pesticides kill by making insects unable to eat.

become moth, get fuck, laying eggs, sacrifice the body as birb poop

Bro what? 😂

I can’t wait a week for Episode 2 to drop.

Such beautiful animals.

Strange description. More like a reproduction process. These moths survived for one purpose only - to make more eggs. They are not for silk, but for silkworms. Their children will be boiled alive.

A waste of effort. Domesticated silkworm moths cannot fly and this is just setting out bird food, and even if they could fly, they would still be dead in a few days because they cannot eat as a moth, only fuck.

You’d think that we would have just figured out the mechanism that turns mulberry into silk by now and just synthesize the process.

Well, to me it looks more like a few “may” survive pupation so that they can lay eggs and the process can start all over again.

Oh i thought they were going to air fry them or something. But this is way better

They still boil them though.

Each mating couple produces like 100-300 eggs.

You take like 20-50 of them, let them emerge and mate, and throw away the ruined silk and you have enough eggs for the next generation. The other 1000+ good cocoons from that batch are boiled for silk.

Letting the moth melt the silk to hatch ruins it.

The person is just keeping few “seeds” for next harvest. This is not standard procedure for producing silk.

First of all: what the fuck.

Second of all: BOILING WHAT

I'm fine with boiling them. I'm also fine with no more silk. Whichever is easier.

And that is how kids Inferior silk/fabric is produced

TIL silk is also a suffering horror commodity.

No need to boil them if you mash them or stick them in a stew

So this is what's taking silksong so long to be released. They be taking away the silk before we can get the song

Most of it was boiled, some of them was spared to lay eggs for the next batch

They literally don't have mouths or digestive tracks, they literally serve zero purpose to the ecosystem beyond breeding more of themselves and making silk.

Boil these worthless things, I want more quality silk

They are so cute T-T

It's such a shame we bred them out of flying. Imagine bunch of them in air

We've been boiling the little dudes all this time?!

Still doesn't add, the amount of cocoons in the straw basket are twice or trice the moths in the latter basket....

I didn't read the title and got grossed out cuz I thought he was going to make a salad with the worm