In biology, moulting or molting/ˈmoʊltɪŋ/, also known as sloughing, shedding, or for some species, ecdysis, is the manner in which an animal routinely casts off a part of its body (often but not always an outer layer or covering), either at specific times of year, or at specific points in its life cycle.

Moulting can involve the epidermis (skin), pelage (hair, fur, wool), or other external layer. In some species, other body parts may be shed, for example, wings in some insects. Examples include old feathers in birds, old hairs in mammals (especially dogs and other canidae), old skin in reptiles, and the entire exoskeleton in arthropods.

In birds, moulting is the periodic replacement of feathers by shedding old feathers while producing new ones. Feathers are dead structures at maturity, and they become gradually worn down and need to be replaced. Adult birds moult at least once a year, though many moult twice, and a few three times. It 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. The amount of shed feathers varies. In some moulting periods, a bird may renew only the feathers on the head and body, shedding the wing and tail feathers during a later moulting period. Some species of wild bird become flightless during an annual "wing moult" and must seek protected habitat with a reliable food supply during that time. While plumage may look thin or uneven during moult, the general shape is maintained despite the loss of apparently many feathers; genuine bald spots are typically signs of unrelated illnesses, such as gross injuries, parasites, feather pecking (in commercial poultry), or (in pet birds) feather plucking.

Daniel Moult (born 1973) is a concert organist, organ tutor and animateur, ensemble player and presenter of films about music.

Daniel Moult was born in Manchester, England. He attended Manchester Grammar School and St John’s College, Oxford, where he was organ scholar. While at Oxford he became a Fellow of the Royal College of Organists winning three of the top prizes, and was jointly awarded the University of Oxford’s John Betts Organ Scholarship. He studied as a post-graduate at the Conservatorium van Amsterdam, where his teacher was Jacques van Oortmerssen.

Daniel Moult was organist and assistant director of music at Coventry Cathedral from 1995 to 2002. He has performed concerts throughout the UK, as well as in Europe and the Far East, and has been a soloist with orchestras such as Kammerorchester Basel, the Czech National Symphony Orchestra, Capella Cracoviensis and the English String Orchestra. He works frequently as an accompanist for choirs such as the RSCM Millennium Youth Choir and the choir of St Peter's Church, Eaton Square. In 2010 he toured Switzerland and France with the Kammerorchester Basel as the soloist in Handel’s F Major Organ Concerto, Opus 4.