Julia Marumo, her two young sisters, and her cousin Gladys pick mopane worms from mopane trees in the countryside; entire families like hers move into mobile camps for the short mopane harvest which occurs twice every year in Botswana. The mopane worm is actually the caterpillar of the anomalous emperor moth (Imbrasia belina), one of the larger moths in the world. "Mopane" refers to the mopane tree, and its leaves which the caterpillar eats. Dried mopane worms have three times the protein content of beef and can be stored for many months. (pages 128,129)