--- title: African Moon Moth Lays Two Eggs in Reporters Ear: See Video and Photos description: FOX 5 DC reporter Bob Barnard claims an African Moon moth laid 2 eggs in his ear during a live shot at the Smithsonian butterfly pavilion canonical: https://time.com/3757241/african-moon-moth-reporter-smithsonian/ author: Olivia B. Waxman article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2015-03-24T22:16:28.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-08-04T07:43:30.923Z og:title: African Moon Moth Lays Two Eggs in Reporters Ear: See Video and Photos og:description: FOX 5 DC reporter Bob Barnard claims an African Moon moth laid 2 eggs in his ear during a live shot at the Smithsonian butterfly pavilion og:url: https://time.com/3757241/african-moon-moth-reporter-smithsonian/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: TIME og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: African Moon Moth Lays Two Eggs in Reporters Ear: See Video and Photos twitter:description: FOX 5 DC reporter Bob Barnard claims an African Moon moth laid 2 eggs in his ear during a live shot at the Smithsonian butterfly pavilion twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production --- # Watch a Moth Lay 2 Eggs in a Reporter's Ear on Live TV > Sponsored content. 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Every edition is assembled by TIME editors rather than generated automatically. ### Sources * TIME Newsletters: [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-nl-brief-2026q3/newsletters?i=ae4fccd1-346b-4f98-9461-d06cb9873545&cr=time-nl-brief-2026q3-v1) ## Video: Florida's Everglades: The 5 Worst Invasive Species [Watch (HLS stream): Florida's Everglades: The 5 Worst Invasive Species](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/OTAC142S.m3u8) (4:40)  _Published 2014-07-09. Florida's Everglades is ground zero for the issue of invasive Species. Here are 5 of the worst_  by [Olivia B. Waxman](https://time.com/author/olivia-b-waxman/)  ## Olivia B. Waxman Staff Writer Mar 24, 2015 10:16 PM UTC  by [Olivia B. Waxman](https://time.com/author/olivia-b-waxman/)  ## Olivia B. Waxman Staff Writer Mar 24, 2015 10:16 PM UTC That African Moon Moth on my ear on live TV laid two eggs! (Yuck) It's [#MuseumWeek](https://twitter.com/hashtag/MuseumWeek?src=hash&ref%5Fsrc=twsrc%5Etfw) [@NMNH](https://twitter.com/NMNH?ref%5Fsrc=twsrc%5Etfw) [@fox5newsdc](https://twitter.com/fox5newsdc?ref%5Fsrc=twsrc%5Etfw) [pic.twitter.com/W6BSGKrRsR](http://t.co/W6BSGKrRsR) — Bob Barnard (@barnardfox5dc) [March 23, 2015](https://twitter.com/barnardfox5dc/status/580015006311415810?ref%5Fsrc=twsrc%5Etfw) A reporter in the nation’s capital recently got an earful, not from a juicy source or whistleblower, but from… a moth. FOX 5 reporter Bob Barnard says an African moon moth laid two eggs in his ear during a live shot from the butterfly pavilion at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of Natural History in Washington, D.C. “This African Moon moth is mating with my ear lobe,” he said during an interview with Dan Babbitt, manager of the museum’s insect zoo. He posted two photos on Twitter. A brief clip of the segment is below: ### Tiny Beauties: Life's Smallest Wonders As Seen Through a Microscope  Honorable Mention: Proboscis of a blowfly. Michael Gibson—Olympus Bioscapes  Honorable Mention: Adult mouse cerebral cortex. Dr. Claudia Barros—Olympus Bioscapes  Honorable Mention: Black beetle. Pekka Honkakoski—Olympus Bioscapes  Honorable mention: Tracheae of a silkworm. Michael Gibson—Olympus Bioscapes  Honorable mention (Video Still): Axons in a mouse brainstem. Dr. Ali Ertürk—Olympus Bioscapes  Honorable Mention: Anemone flower. Masoumeh "Sahar" Khodaverdi—Olympus Bioscapes  Honorable Mention: Chick embryonic kidney. Dr. Poulomi Ray—Olympus Bioscapes  Honorable Mention: Tip of the proboscis of a Viceroy butterfly. Dr. Matthew S. Lehnert and Catherine P. Mulvane—Olympus Bioscapes  Honorable mention (Video Still): Cell division, movements and cytoplasmic streaming of the desmid Euastrum oblongum. Dr. Jens Hallfeldt—Olympus Bioscapes  Honorable Mention: Placental vasculature of a transgenic mouse embryo. Amanda Phillips-Yzaguirre—Olympus Bioscapes  10th Place (Video Still): Paramecium, showing contactile vacuole and ciliary motion. Ralph Grimm—Olympus Bioscapes  9th Place: Head and legs of a caddisfly larva. Fabrice Parais—Olympus Bioscapes  8th Place: Mouse tail stained for the K15 (green) hair follicle stem cell marker as well as Ki67 (red), which marks proliferating cells. Dr. Yaron Fuchs—Olympus Bioscapes  7th Place: Phantom midge larva (Chaoborus). Charles Krebs—Olympus Bioscapes  6th Place: Gonocerus acuteangulatus, two hours old. Kurt Wirz—Olympus Bioscapes  5th Place: Mouse embryonic fibroblasts showing the actin filaments (red) and DNA (blue). Dr. Dylan Burnette—Olympus Bioscapes  4th Place: Stained transverse section of a lily flower bud. Spike Walker—Olympus Bioscapes  3rd Place: A composite image showing a collection of single-cell fresh water algae, desmids. Dr. Igor Siwanowicz—Olympus Bioscapes  2nd Place: A lateral view of a black mastiff bat embryo (Molossus rufus). Dorit Hockman—Olympus Bioscapes  1st Place: Open trap of aquatic carnivorous plant, humped bladderwort (Utricularia gibba). Dr. Igor Siwanowicz—Olympus Bioscapes ## Transcript Invasive species are a major problem in the U. S ., and they cost billions of dollars in damages each year. And Ground Zero for that issue is Florida, and especially south Florida's Everglades. The hospitable tropical climate and proximity to the port of Miami makes it a popular place for an array of invasive animals and plants, more than 500 in all. This lizard. Becoming more invasive. On the hunt for a new breed of python. The menace called, the lion fish. Here are some of the worst. Good morning, Department of Agriculture. [ NOISE ] Oh my goodness. This is a big snail, a very big snail. Giant African Snails are native to Africa, no surprise there. It first appears in Florida as a pet. The snail can grow longer than seven inches. Tens of thousands of snails have been confiscated in airports around the US. Which means they are like a farm ware in the wild. Don't see any, just don't see any. These snails have five hundred host plants. If they were to become established, it could devastate Florida's agriculture. They like to eat the stucco off the sides of the houses, because it contains calcium, and the calcium helps to build their shells. They also carry a parasite that can cause meningitis in human beings. Local authorities are trying to detect and remove the snails, as well as prevent more of them from coming into the U. S.. But, given the fact that they can lay 1200 eggs a year, that won't be very easy. The Brazilian pepper tree is native to South America. It was actually imported legally in Florida, in the mid 1800s as an ornamental plant. The problematic because they produce a dense canopy that shades native trees. So this is This is the one right here the Yeah, this one with these things. They can grow and just completely, you know, dominate an entire area. This little piece I cut out. It's Brazilian pepper. Hm- mm You look some places where this plant has been established for a few years. And it's the only species you'll see. And if you, you know if you stop trying to control them what happens would, would they just sort of begin to, to spread. They would just take over again become a spread, and that beautiful prairie you see out there in a few years without management and your gonna end up with again just one gigantic mass of an invasive species. Importation to plant is now banned in Florida and wild life officials have tried uprooting and destroying existing trees. But it's been laborious work. Cuban tree frogs were accidentally brought to Florida in the 1820s as hitchhikers in cargo ships. And they're problematic because they eat at least five different species of native frog, as well as lizards and small snakes. They've also been known to cause outages by chewing on power lines. Wildlife official are trying to remove the frogs that are found, but they've established themselves well in the Everglades. [ MUSIC ] Green iguanas hail from Central America and they're bought in the U. S. as pets. They're prized for their bright colors. But they thrive in the Everglades in South Florida, where they've been able to push out native lizards and insects. For three days they can lay more than 20 eggs. They've been known to live more than 20 years. There have been efforts to control them, the iguanas have been known to fight back. Whipping their tails at people, even biting. [ MUSIC ] Burmese python hails from South and Southeast Asia and can grow up to 18 feet or more. They were likely introduced by pet owners who accidentally or purposely released their pythons into the wild. [ MUSIC ] Pythons pose a danger to the Everglades because they're wiping out smaller mammals. One paper said the pythons could be eating 99 % of the raccoons in the park area. And has even gone after native alligators. And there doesn't seem to be an easy solution. Finding the pythons is incredibly hard, they can hide in the ground and don't need to eat for weeks or even months. You can see why it's difficult to catch them. They'll get into cover like this and disappear. We just wont, we won't see them. The detection rate of these things is incredibly small. The Everglades remain one of the most invaded places in the country and that's not likely going to change. But those parts of the wetlands that haven't yet been developed yet by human beings are still vibrant echo systems. The biggest challenges the Everglades will face in the future will be rising sea levels from climate change, the ever present threat of development, the onslaught of invasive species won't help. 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