Amata cerbera
In 3 days ~20% in a week ~50%
Amata cerbera, the heady maiden, is a moth of the subfamily Arctiinae. It was described by Carl Linnaeus in 1764. It has an extensive range in sub-Saharan Africa. Wikipedia →
| # | Park | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Gonarezhou National Park | 🇿🇼 Zimbabwe | |
| 2 | Table Mountain National Park | 🇿🇦 South Africa | |
| 3 | Kruger National Park | 🇿🇦 South Africa |
| # | City | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Cape Town | 🇿🇦 South Africa |
With luck
About 10% of wildlife watchers report a Heady Maiden sighting in Table Mountain National Park on a given day, based on 109 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data from 2019 to 2026. It is the 45th most-seen of the 344 insects we can rate there. Over three days the chance rises to about 20%, and over a week to about 50%, if each day is a fresh chance.
October
In that month about 20% of wildlife watchers report a Heady Maiden in Table Mountain National Park on a given day, against under 5% in February and June–August, the lowest months.
Between 11 am and 2 pm
Across all the parks we cover, that three-hour window holds the most Heady Maiden sightings with a recorded time, and nearly all of them come between 6 am and 6 pm: it is a daytime animal.
2nd of 3
Of the 3 parks where we can rate Heady Maiden sightings, Table Mountain National Park ranks 2nd at about 10%. The best odds are in Gonarezhou National Park (Zimbabwe, about 30%).
Same family: Erebidae
The closest relatives of the Heady Maiden that you can see in Table Mountain National Park (family Erebidae, Underwing, Tiger, Tussock, and Allied Moths) are Brown Tricolour Tiger Moth (about 20%), Zebra Ermine (about 10%) and Crimson-Speckled Flunkey (about 10%), with each one's daily chance of a sighting.
GBIF citizen-science records
It is estimated from how often the Heady Maiden is recorded against all the insects logged in Table Mountain National Park (109 verified sightings from 2019 to 2026), calibrated against known sighting rates. Figures are rounded to the nearest 10% because citizen-science data supports honest approximations, not decimals, and months with records from fewer than five people show "—". How it works.
