Uploaded September 2025 | Updated September 2026, 2 weeks ago
Aglia tau - the tau emperor (Saturniidae) - one amazing species of emperor moth. Here is how to breed it in just five steps! 5 steps by Bart Coppens
0:00 Intro
0:25 Step 1 the eggs
1:06 Step 2 small larvae
4:03 Step 3 big larvae
9:45 Step 4 the pupae
12:54 Step 5 tau emperor moths
Moths? Butterflies? Insects? Nature? Oh yes! My name is Bart Coppens; pleased to meet you. Allow me to introduce myself and what I do! I am an (amateur) entomologist - and my YouTube channel is pretty unique! I mostly film butterflies, moths and their life respective cycles! I also do biology, entomology and wildlife adjacent content.
For over 6 years, my channel was demonetised by YouTube(!) and they never told me the reason why. My older videos may reference this fact!! They tried to kill the beast but they only made it stronger. It only made me more determined to succeed; and in the course of those 6 years I made close to 2000 insect videos! In this time, I heavily relied on community support through crowdfunding and my online web-businesses.
Today, my channel STILL relies on crowdfunding and community support, but perhaps less so than in the time period in which I was completely demonetised. Still, much of my content has 'limited' monetisation due YouTube determining that my content is not being advertiser friendly(!). If you wish to support my show, and my quest to bring attention to the conservation of the beautiful insects of this world and be a part of my efforts to document them, consider singing up to my Patreon! It's the best way to help.
Link to my Patreon: patreon.com/BartButterflies
I also have a website on Etsy where I publish my own books and guides, and often ethically framed butterflies and moths who died of old age, or specimens for collectors.
A link to my Etsy store: etsy.com/shop/BartCoppensMerch
I'm proud of my Etsy store and offer some exclusive content on here for people who want to learn about moths!
If you'd like to support me in other ways, it is also possible to tip me via PayPal and Ko-Fi.
PayPal: paypal.me/BartCoppens
Ko-Fi: Ko-fi.com/bartbutterflies
Here you can send a tip to help me research and film more awesome species.
I also designed hundreds of MOTH stickers on RedBubble!
Link to RedBubble: redbubble.com/people/Entomologist/shop
SOCIALS: Do you wish to contact me? I am also on other platforms.
Instagram: @coppensb -- instagram.com/coppensb
E-mail: bart.coppens@hotmail.com (personal email; do not abuse) note: I get a lot of mail, I may be slow to reply.
TikTok: @mothmanbart
Facebook: 'Moth of the Day"
“But what exactly is the purpose of butterflies?”
There are few other questions I’m asked regularly in my life that I answer with such mixed feelings. Of course, I could explain that butterflies play a crucial ecological role as pollinators and as indicators of ecosystem health—and sometimes, I do just that. I could talk about how the various life stages of butterflies provide an essential food source—from bats that catch moths at night to blue tits that raise their young on caterpillars in the spring, and the important role that certain (moth) species play in the food web. But sometimes, I’d rather not; instead of explaining their usefulness in functional or practical terms, I’d rather convey (not in a rude or condescending way) that not everything we see and experience needs to have a specific “purpose” that’s easily understandable to us. But how does one convey this—how does one translate the untranslatable?
Perhaps it’s no coincidence that—particularly butterflies—with their wide array of colors and shapes, are responsible for the ‘birth’ of many an entomologist who has dedicated their life to butterflies or other insects. My own interest in butterflies, for instance, began in childhood; raising the caterpillars of various butterfly species around my home became, for me, and perhaps many others, the foundation of a lifelong interest not only in insects but in the environment and nature as a whole. Butterflies certainly have an ecological “function,” yes, but perhaps their true value—one that is hard to capture in words but is felt by many—extends beyond that.
Sometimes, it’s simply enough that something exists. And I believe butterflies have conveyed this idea not only to me but to many other people as well. Maybe, secretly, that’s the true purpose of a butterfly? And perhaps it is also my purpose, and the purpose of this channel.
Ad astra per aspera!
Aglia tau - the tau emperor (Saturniidae) - one amazing species of emperor moth. Here is how to breed it in just five steps! 5 steps by Bart Coppens
0:00 Intro
0:25 Step 1 the eggs
1:06 Step 2 small larvae
4:03 Step 3 big larvae
9:45 Step 4 the pupae
12:54 Step 5 tau emperor moths
Moths? Butterflies? Insects? Nature? Oh yes! My name is Bart Coppens; pleased to meet you. Allow me to introduce myself and what I do! I am an (amateur) entomologist - and my YouTube channel is pretty unique! I mostly film butterflies, moths and their life respective cycles! I also do biology, entomology and wildlife adjacent content.
For over 6 years, my channel was demonetised by YouTube(!) and they never told me the reason why. My older videos may reference this fact!! They tried to kill the beast but they only made it stronger. It only made me more determined to succeed; and in the course of those 6 years I made close to 2000 insect videos! In this time, I heavily relied on community support through crowdfunding and my online web-businesses.
Today, my channel STILL relies on crowdfunding and community support, but perhaps less so than in the time period in which I was completely demonetised. Still, much of my content has 'limited' monetisation due YouTube determining that my content is not being advertiser friendly(!). If you wish to support my show, and my quest to bring attention to the conservation of the beautiful insects of this world and be a part of my efforts to document them, consider singing up to my Patreon! It's the best way to help.
Link to my Patreon: patreon.com/BartButterflies
I also have a website on Etsy where I publish my own books and guides, and often ethically framed butterflies and moths who died of old age, or specimens for collectors.
A link to my Etsy store: etsy.com/shop/BartCoppensMerch
I'm proud of my Etsy store and offer some exclusive content on here for people who want to learn about moths!
If you'd like to support me in other ways, it is also possible to tip me via PayPal and Ko-Fi.
PayPal: paypal.me/BartCoppens
Ko-Fi: Ko-fi.com/bartbutterflies
Here you can send a tip to help me research and film more awesome species.
I also designed hundreds of MOTH stickers on RedBubble!
Link to RedBubble: redbubble.com/people/Entomologist/shop
SOCIALS: Do you wish to contact me? I am also on other platforms.
Instagram: @coppensb -- instagram.com/coppensb
E-mail: bart.coppens@hotmail.com (personal email; do not abuse) note: I get a lot of mail, I may be slow to reply.
TikTok: @mothmanbart
Facebook: 'Moth of the Day"
“But what exactly is the purpose of butterflies?”
There are few other questions I’m asked regularly in my life that I answer with such mixed feelings. Of course, I could explain that butterflies play a crucial ecological role as pollinators and as indicators of ecosystem health—and sometimes, I do just that. I could talk about how the various life stages of butterflies provide an essential food source—from bats that catch moths at night to blue tits that raise their young on caterpillars in the spring, and the important role that certain (moth) species play in the food web. But sometimes, I’d rather not; instead of explaining their usefulness in functional or practical terms, I’d rather convey (not in a rude or condescending way) that not everything we see and experience needs to have a specific “purpose” that’s easily understandable to us. But how does one convey this—how does one translate the untranslatable?
Perhaps it’s no coincidence that—particularly butterflies—with their wide array of colors and shapes, are responsible for the ‘birth’ of many an entomologist who has dedicated their life to butterflies or other insects. My own interest in butterflies, for instance, began in childhood; raising the caterpillars of various butterfly species around my home became, for me, and perhaps many others, the foundation of a lifelong interest not only in insects but in the environment and nature as a whole. Butterflies certainly have an ecological “function,” yes, but perhaps their true value—one that is hard to capture in words but is felt by many—extends beyond that.
Sometimes, it’s simply enough that something exists. And I believe butterflies have conveyed this idea not only to me but to many other people as well. Maybe, secretly, that’s the true purpose of a butterfly? And perhaps it is also my purpose, and the purpose of this channel.
Ad astra per aspera!
