Insects need to molt as they grow because their hard exoskeletons do not allow much room for expansion. Each stage in the development of an insect between moults is called an instar.
Moult (pro. MOOL) is a commune of the département of Calvados, in the Basse-Normandie région, in France. Its postal code is 14370. The INSEE code is 14456.
Moulting in birds is a comparatively slow process, as a bird never sheds all its feathers at once; it must keep enough of its feathers to regulate its body temperature and repel moisture.
Moulting is costly, in terms of energy, for birds and so usually takes place when the bird is less stressed, for example, late in the summer after breeding is complete, the weather is still warm and there is still plenty of food to be found.
Many species that moult in the late summer also have a partial "pre-breeding" moult in the early spring to replace some body feathers and wing coverts (but not flight feathers), for example: Pied Wagtail, Spotted Flycatcher and Whitethroat.
Many species moult their primary wing feathers in a strict sequence, this sequence varies from species to species, but may be from the innermost to the outermost, the outermost to the innermost, or the middlemost and then inwards and outwards.
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