The most common tale on the origins of the Silkworm begins in 2640 B.C. when Si-Ling-Chi, a Chinese Empress was simply walking through her garden, when a ‘cocoon’ (of a Silkworm) dropped into her tea. Upon picking it up, she found the cocoon begun to unravel, forming a beautiful string of what is now known as ‘Silk’.

What is the story of silkworm?

The most common tale on the origins of the Silkworm begins in 2640 B.C. when Si-Ling-Chi, a Chinese Empress was simply walking through her garden, when a ‘cocoon’ (of a Silkworm) dropped into her tea. Upon picking it up, she found the cocoon begun to unravel, forming a beautiful string of what is now known as ‘Silk’.

Who discovered silkworms?

Chinese empress Si-Ling-Chi
According to legend, the silkworm was discovered by Chinese empress Si-Ling-Chi in the year 2640 B.C.E. The empress was walking through her garden when a silkworm cocoon dropped into her tea from the mulberry tree above.

Who is the author of the Chinese novella Spring Silkworms?

author Mao Dun
Spring Silkworms (Chun Can) is a novella by the Chinese author Mao Dun about the experience of Chinese villagers engaging in sericulture.

What do Chinese silkworms eat?

The silkworm’s appetite for the white mulberry tree leaf is so voracious that arborists and botanists often refer to the tree as the silkworm mulberry. Its leaves are the silkworms’ top choice for food; usually it’s the only choice silkworms readily accept.

Why do silkworms make silk?

It spins silk to make the cocoon for its transformation into its adult form as a winged moth. A silkworm, which isn’t really a worm at all, tucks into some mulberry leaves. That silken cocoon is what silk producers are after, and they want it intact.

What are silkworms used for?

Silkworms spin medicinal gold. Scientists in Japan have genetically modified silkworms to secrete the human protein collagen. In their cocoons, the insects produced both silk and collagen, which is used to generate artificial skin and cartilage and in cosmetic surgery to fill out lips and wrinkles.

Do silkworms make silk?

How is silk made? There’s no getting around this: Silkworms die to produce silk. There are different types of silk, but the variety we generally refer to when we talk about silk—the one used for stunning saris or flowy dresses—comes from the mulberry silkworm, Bombyx mori.

Is Silk A agriculture?

Sericulture, or silk farming, is the cultivation of silkworms to produce silk. Although there are several commercial species of silkworms, Bombyx mori (the caterpillar of the domestic silkmoth) is the most widely used and intensively studied silkworm.

Can you eat silk?

Even though silk fiber is protenicious in nature but it is not edible (most of the silk fiber is used in the textile industry) whereas, various other parts of silkworm are found to be edible in many parts of the world including India.

Are silkworms endangered?

Not extinctDomestic silk moth / Extinction status