Beijing park's holiday caterpillar hunt targets 'forest food monster'

BEIJING, Oct 5 — For most families, China's "Golden Week" holiday is a time ​to relax, eat well, and visit the country's tourist hot spots.

But at a wildlife park in Beijing, some people ‌have been spending their holiday hunting for fall webworm larvae, an invasive species of ⁠caterpillar the park has dubbed "the forest ​food monster".

Beijing Wildlife Park asked ⁠visitors to catch as many of the caterpillars as possible, ‌rewarding those with the ‌heaviest haul with prizes including as many as 10 park ⁠tickets. The caterpillar, native to North ⁠America, can damage more than 300 plant species including crops and fruit trees.

After a crash course on how to spot the larvae, participants spread out across the nearly 550-acre (223-hectare) 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 crawling caterpillars.

More than 310,000 caterpillars with a combined weight of 47.65 kg (105.05 lbs) have been caught by some 2,077 people since the competition began on September 28.

The fall webworm is a major pest in China and produces three generations a year. Beijing is currently ​experiencing peak damage from this year's third generation of larvae, China's Xinhua ‌news agency reported ‌earlier this ⁠week, quoting the chief scientist at the Chinese Academy of Forestry.

"(We've) noticed there are a lot of fall webworm larvae around us," said a 35-year-old participant surnamed Cui. "I think the Beijing Wildlife Park activity is ‌very meaningful. It sparks ​the interest of our children, and (we) ‌can even win a ⁠prize at ​the same time."

(Reporting by Mandy Leong; Writing by Joe Cash; Editing by ​Kate Mayberry)